British Victoria Cross recipient. Albert Edward Curtis was born in Guildford, in Surrey. He began his military career with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders but, in 1893, transferred to the 2nd. Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. On the 23rd. February 1900 at Onderbank Spruit in South Africa, during the Boer War, a British Colonel, R. Harris, was severely wounded, and was left all day in the open under fire from some Boers, who shot him a further eight or nine times. After several attempts, Private Curtis managed to reach the Colonel, who was still under fire, gave him a drink from his flask, tended his wounds and tried to carry him to shelter. He was unable to do this by himself, so he called for help, and another soldier (Private Morton) came to his assistance. The Colonel ordered them to leave him and not risk their lives, but the two Privates succeeded in carrying him to cover. Private Curtis was presented with his Victoria Cross by the Duke of York (later King George V) on the 14th. August 1901 at Pietermaritzburg. In 1910, after he left the Army, Private Curtis became a Yeoman of the Guard (a Beefeater) and lived with his wife, Annie, in the Tower of London. His grave went unmarked for sixty years until the 23rd. February 2000 when, to mark the centenary of the action which led to his award, a ceremony was held to mark the placing of a headstone. It is not particularly easy to find. If you enter from the green gate in Bells Lane, walk straight ahead until you reach the N.W. boundary (with Barnet General Hospital on the other side of the hedge), then turn left, and Private Curtis's grave is the eleventh one along. However, that gate is often locked, so you may have to walk for another hundred yards along Bells Lane and use the entrance opposite St. Stephen's Church, in Spring Close. Follow the path ahead of you to the North-East (parallel to Bells Lane) and take the first turning left until the path ends; then turn right and, immediately, left again. Continue along this path until you reach the North-West boundary, at the grave of Ernest Atkinson. Count back two rows from the Atkinson grave and turn right. Private Curtis's grave is the seventh one along.