Joseph Harcourt Tombs Explained

Joseph Harcourt Tombs
Birth Date:	23 March 1887
Death Date:	28 June 1966 (aged 79)
Birth Place:	Birmingham, England
Death Place:	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Placeofburial:	Pine Hills Cemetery, Toronto
Allegiance:	Canada
Servicenumber:	10073
Serviceyears:	1912−1920 (UK) 1939−1944 (Canada)
Rank:	Corporal (UK) Sergeant (Canada)
Branch:	British Army Royal Canadian Air Force
Unit:	King's (Liverpool Regiment) The Royal Canadian Regiment
Battles:	First World War Second World War
Awards:	Victoria Cross Cross of St George 4th Class (Russia)

Sergeant Joseph Harcourt Tombs VC (23 March 1887 − 28 June 1966), born Frederick Griffith Tombs, who under the name Joseph Tombs, was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award of the British (Imperial) honours system. The VC is awarded for ‘most conspicuous bravery … in the presence of the enemy’.^{[1] [2]}

VC action

Tombs was born in Birmingham and was a 28-year-old Lance-Corporal in the 1st Battalion, The King's (Liverpool Regiment), British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.^[3] On 16 May 1915 near Rue du Bois, France, Lance-Corporal Tombs, on his own initiative, crawled out repeatedly under very heavy shell and machine-gun fire to bring in wounded men who were lying about 100 yards in front of our trenches. He rescued four men, one of whom he dragged back by means of a rifle sling placed round his own neck and the man's body.^[4]

Later life

He was promoted Corporal in the field (24 May 1915) and after the war, emigrated to Canada where he spent the rest of his life. On 25 May 1920, Tombs enlisted in the Canadian Army in Montréal, and served as a Private in The Royal Canadian Regiment. His attestation papers are held in The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum, Wolseley Barracks, London, Ontario). During the Second World War Tombs enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served at the Flying School in Trenton, Ontario, Canada.^[5] A 1952 operation to remove some of the shrapnel still embedded in his stomach was not completely successful, and in 1964 he suffered a stroke.^[6] His Victoria Cross is held by the Royal Regiment of Canada Foundation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.^[7]

Bibliography

• Book: Batchelor. Peter. Matson. Christopher. The Western Front 1915. VCs of the First World War. 2011. The History Press. 978-0-7524-6057-4.
• Book: Oldfield, Paul. Victoria Crosses on the Western Front August 1914–April 1915: Mons to Hill 60. Pen and Sword Books. 2014. 978-1783030439.
• Victoria Cross and the George Cross: the complete history (Methuen, 2013)
• Valiant Men: Canada's Victoria Cross and George Cross winners (edited by John Swettenham, 1973)

External links

• http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbtombsj.htm

Notes and References

1. Baptised Frederick Griffith on 8 April 1877. The son of Frederick and Mary Tombs of Chester Road, Erdington, Warwick. The profession of his father was Secretary of the South Birmingham Conservative Association
2. Clause three, Warrant recoding the conditions of award of the Victoria Cross, incorporating the increase of pension and the extension of this to commissioned officers, Special Army Order 65 of 1961 Signed by John Profumo on 30 September 1961
3. Web site: First World War Victoria Cross recipients . 2023-08-24 . GOV.UK . en.
4. The action was on 16 May 1915 not 16 June 1915 as stated in the citation published in the London Gazette.
5. His enlistment in the Canadian Army and the RCAF both indicated he was born in Melbourne, Australia as do many reference books including Volume 2 of the Complete VC and GC work listed in the references and Find a Grave listed in External Links. The baptismal certificate (note 1) and the UK Government (note 3) confirms that he was born in England.
6. The Victoria Cross and the George Cross: the complete history, Volume II, the First World War, 1914-1918, Methuen, 2013,
7. Web site: Royal Regiment of Canada.