British Victoria Cross recipient. Samuel Harvey was born in Basford, near Nottingham, but moved to Ipswich with his family when he was a small child. He joined the Army in 1905 and, during the First World War, served as a Private in the First Batallion of the York and Lancaster Regiment. On the 29th. September 1915, in the "Big Willie" trench near the Hohenzollern Redoubt at Loos in Northern France, there was a heavy bombing attack. More bombs were required, and Private Harvey volunteered to fetch them. The communication trench was blocked with the wounded, so he had to run back and forth, under heavy fire, across the open ground. He succeeded in bringing back thirty boxes before being wounded in the head. His citation read: "It was largely owing to his cool bravery in supplying the bombs that the enemy was eventually driven back." In October 1916, he was transferred to the Northumberland Fusiliers, and continued to serve on the Western Front, being wounded three times. He did, however, travel back to England in January 1917 in order to be presented with his medal by King George V, at Buckingham Palace. After the War, he married a widow named Georgina Brown and made a living doing odd jobs and digging people's gardens, as well as working as an ostler. He died in the former poor house at Stowmarket, but was given a full military funeral, which was attended by at least two hundred people and shown on the B.B.C. His family were unable to afford a tombstone, so there was no marker, until members of his former regiment and of the Western Front Association raised money foir a memorial, which was dedicated at a ceremony held on the 29th. September 2000, eighty-five years to the day after his heroic action. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of his medal are unknown.
British Victoria Cross recipient. Samuel Harvey was born in Basford, near Nottingham, but moved to Ipswich with his family when he was a small child. He joined the Army in 1905 and, during the First World War, served as a Private in the First Batallion of the York and Lancaster Regiment. On the 29th. September 1915, in the "Big Willie" trench near the Hohenzollern Redoubt at Loos in Northern France, there was a heavy bombing attack. More bombs were required, and Private Harvey volunteered to fetch them. The communication trench was blocked with the wounded, so he had to run back and forth, under heavy fire, across the open ground. He succeeded in bringing back thirty boxes before being wounded in the head. His citation read: "It was largely owing to his cool bravery in supplying the bombs that the enemy was eventually driven back." In October 1916, he was transferred to the Northumberland Fusiliers, and continued to serve on the Western Front, being wounded three times. He did, however, travel back to England in January 1917 in order to be presented with his medal by King George V, at Buckingham Palace. After the War, he married a widow named Georgina Brown and made a living doing odd jobs and digging people's gardens, as well as working as an ostler. He died in the former poor house at Stowmarket, but was given a full military funeral, which was attended by at least two hundred people and shown on the B.B.C. His family were unable to afford a tombstone, so there was no marker, until members of his former regiment and of the Western Front Association raised money foir a memorial, which was dedicated at a ceremony held on the 29th. September 2000, eighty-five years to the day after his heroic action. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of his medal are unknown.
Bio by: Iain MacFarlaine
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