Major-General Sir Charles John Mellis V.C., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., was born in Mhow, in the Bengal region of India on the 12th September 1862, the son of Lieutenant-General George Julius Mellis and his wife Euphemia Anne (nee Tallan). His parents married in Douglas, on the Isle of Man on the 7th September 1857. His sister Julia was born there in 1858
He was the second of their three sons all born in Mhow, where his father worked as an Executive Engineer. In 1871 their mother was living in Chelsea with her four children. Charles John Mellis attended Wellington College and then R.M.C. Sandhurst before being joining the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1882. In 1884 he was transferred to the Indian Staff Corps with whom he served in East Africa, Somaliland and the North-West Frontier. In 1889 he qualified as first-class interpreter in Russian.
In May 1899 off Cape coast Castle in West Africa he was one of four men who leapt overboard from their vessel Sokoto into a shark-infested sea in order to rescue a member of the crew. He was awarded a bronze Royal Human Society medal.
He was serving as a Captain with the Norther Nigerian Regiment of the West African Frontier Service in the Third Ashanti (now Ghana) Expedition in 1900 when awarded his V.C.
The London Gazette (15.1.1901) wrote ‘At Obassa, Major Mellis, seeing that the enemy were very numerous, and intended to make a firm stand, hastily collected all stray men and any he could get together, and charged at their head into the dense bush where the enemy were thick. His action carried all along with him; but the enemy were determined to have a hand-to-hand fight. One fired at Major Mellis, who put his sword through the man, and they rolled over together. Another Ashanti shot him through the foot, the wound paralysing the limb. His wild rush had, however, caused a regular panic among the enemy, who were at the same time charged by the Sikhs, and killed in numbers. Major Mellis also behaved with great gallantry on three previous occasions’
He was attacked by a lion whilst hunting in Somaliland in 1903 and was severely wounded, almost losing an arm.
In 1904 he was made a C.B. In WW1 he commanded the 30th Brigade of the Indian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia. They were amongst General Townshend’s ill-fated advance on Baghdad, and endured the siege of Kut-el-Amara. He was created K.C.B in 1915 and K.C.M.B. in 1918 after being held prisoner-of-war by the Turks for over two years.
After retirement in 1920 he settled in Camberley at a house known as Five Trees in Tekels Avenue. He died at his home on the 6th June 1936. His obituary in The Times (8.6.1936) described him as ‘representative of the finest type of Indian Army officer, with a record of the personal prowess much above the ordinary’. He was buried at St Peter’s on the 9th June 1936. At his funeral the bearer party were provided the East Yorkshire Regiment.
Research: Mary Ann Bennett.
his VC is held at Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire
He was the second of their three sons all born in Mhow, where his father worked as an Executive Engineer. In 1871 their mother was living in Chelsea with her four children. Charles John Mellis attended Wellington College and then R.M.C. Sandhurst before being joining the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1882. In 1884 he was transferred to the Indian Staff Corps with whom he served in East Africa, Somaliland and the North-West Frontier. In 1889 he qualified as first-class interpreter in Russian.
In May 1899 off Cape coast Castle in West Africa he was one of four men who leapt overboard from their vessel Sokoto into a shark-infested sea in order to rescue a member of the crew. He was awarded a bronze Royal Human Society medal.
He was serving as a Captain with the Norther Nigerian Regiment of the West African Frontier Service in the Third Ashanti (now Ghana) Expedition in 1900 when awarded his V.C.
The London Gazette (15.1.1901) wrote ‘At Obassa, Major Mellis, seeing that the enemy were very numerous, and intended to make a firm stand, hastily collected all stray men and any he could get together, and charged at their head into the dense bush where the enemy were thick. His action carried all along with him; but the enemy were determined to have a hand-to-hand fight. One fired at Major Mellis, who put his sword through the man, and they rolled over together. Another Ashanti shot him through the foot, the wound paralysing the limb. His wild rush had, however, caused a regular panic among the enemy, who were at the same time charged by the Sikhs, and killed in numbers. Major Mellis also behaved with great gallantry on three previous occasions’
He was attacked by a lion whilst hunting in Somaliland in 1903 and was severely wounded, almost losing an arm.
In 1904 he was made a C.B. In WW1 he commanded the 30th Brigade of the Indian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia. They were amongst General Townshend’s ill-fated advance on Baghdad, and endured the siege of Kut-el-Amara. He was created K.C.B in 1915 and K.C.M.B. in 1918 after being held prisoner-of-war by the Turks for over two years.
After retirement in 1920 he settled in Camberley at a house known as Five Trees in Tekels Avenue. He died at his home on the 6th June 1936. His obituary in The Times (8.6.1936) described him as ‘representative of the finest type of Indian Army officer, with a record of the personal prowess much above the ordinary’. He was buried at St Peter’s on the 9th June 1936. At his funeral the bearer party were provided the East Yorkshire Regiment.
Research: Mary Ann Bennett.
his VC is held at Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire
Major-General Sir Charles John Mellis V.C., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., was born in Mhow, in the Bengal region of India on the 12th September 1862, the son of Lieutenant-General George Julius Mellis and his wife Euphemia Anne (nee Tallan). His parents married in Douglas, on the Isle of Man on the 7th September 1857. His sister Julia was born there in 1858
He was the second of their three sons all born in Mhow, where his father worked as an Executive Engineer. In 1871 their mother was living in Chelsea with her four children. Charles John Mellis attended Wellington College and then R.M.C. Sandhurst before being joining the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1882. In 1884 he was transferred to the Indian Staff Corps with whom he served in East Africa, Somaliland and the North-West Frontier. In 1889 he qualified as first-class interpreter in Russian.
In May 1899 off Cape coast Castle in West Africa he was one of four men who leapt overboard from their vessel Sokoto into a shark-infested sea in order to rescue a member of the crew. He was awarded a bronze Royal Human Society medal.
He was serving as a Captain with the Norther Nigerian Regiment of the West African Frontier Service in the Third Ashanti (now Ghana) Expedition in 1900 when awarded his V.C.
The London Gazette (15.1.1901) wrote ‘At Obassa, Major Mellis, seeing that the enemy were very numerous, and intended to make a firm stand, hastily collected all stray men and any he could get together, and charged at their head into the dense bush where the enemy were thick. His action carried all along with him; but the enemy were determined to have a hand-to-hand fight. One fired at Major Mellis, who put his sword through the man, and they rolled over together. Another Ashanti shot him through the foot, the wound paralysing the limb. His wild rush had, however, caused a regular panic among the enemy, who were at the same time charged by the Sikhs, and killed in numbers. Major Mellis also behaved with great gallantry on three previous occasions’
He was attacked by a lion whilst hunting in Somaliland in 1903 and was severely wounded, almost losing an arm.
In 1904 he was made a C.B. In WW1 he commanded the 30th Brigade of the Indian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia. They were amongst General Townshend’s ill-fated advance on Baghdad, and endured the siege of Kut-el-Amara. He was created K.C.B in 1915 and K.C.M.B. in 1918 after being held prisoner-of-war by the Turks for over two years.
After retirement in 1920 he settled in Camberley at a house known as Five Trees in Tekels Avenue. He died at his home on the 6th June 1936. His obituary in The Times (8.6.1936) described him as ‘representative of the finest type of Indian Army officer, with a record of the personal prowess much above the ordinary’. He was buried at St Peter’s on the 9th June 1936. At his funeral the bearer party were provided the East Yorkshire Regiment.
Research: Mary Ann Bennett.
his VC is held at Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire
He was the second of their three sons all born in Mhow, where his father worked as an Executive Engineer. In 1871 their mother was living in Chelsea with her four children. Charles John Mellis attended Wellington College and then R.M.C. Sandhurst before being joining the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1882. In 1884 he was transferred to the Indian Staff Corps with whom he served in East Africa, Somaliland and the North-West Frontier. In 1889 he qualified as first-class interpreter in Russian.
In May 1899 off Cape coast Castle in West Africa he was one of four men who leapt overboard from their vessel Sokoto into a shark-infested sea in order to rescue a member of the crew. He was awarded a bronze Royal Human Society medal.
He was serving as a Captain with the Norther Nigerian Regiment of the West African Frontier Service in the Third Ashanti (now Ghana) Expedition in 1900 when awarded his V.C.
The London Gazette (15.1.1901) wrote ‘At Obassa, Major Mellis, seeing that the enemy were very numerous, and intended to make a firm stand, hastily collected all stray men and any he could get together, and charged at their head into the dense bush where the enemy were thick. His action carried all along with him; but the enemy were determined to have a hand-to-hand fight. One fired at Major Mellis, who put his sword through the man, and they rolled over together. Another Ashanti shot him through the foot, the wound paralysing the limb. His wild rush had, however, caused a regular panic among the enemy, who were at the same time charged by the Sikhs, and killed in numbers. Major Mellis also behaved with great gallantry on three previous occasions’
He was attacked by a lion whilst hunting in Somaliland in 1903 and was severely wounded, almost losing an arm.
In 1904 he was made a C.B. In WW1 he commanded the 30th Brigade of the Indian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia. They were amongst General Townshend’s ill-fated advance on Baghdad, and endured the siege of Kut-el-Amara. He was created K.C.B in 1915 and K.C.M.B. in 1918 after being held prisoner-of-war by the Turks for over two years.
After retirement in 1920 he settled in Camberley at a house known as Five Trees in Tekels Avenue. He died at his home on the 6th June 1936. His obituary in The Times (8.6.1936) described him as ‘representative of the finest type of Indian Army officer, with a record of the personal prowess much above the ordinary’. He was buried at St Peter’s on the 9th June 1936. At his funeral the bearer party were provided the East Yorkshire Regiment.
Research: Mary Ann Bennett.
his VC is held at Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire
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