The George Cross was instituted in September 1940 to recognise
civilian heroism. King George VI created the award for the men
and women of the Commonwealth whose courage could not be marked
by any other honour. The silver cross, bearing an image of St
George slaying the dragon and the words "FOR GALLANTRY", was
designed by Percy Metcalfe and is struck at the Royal Mint.
The reverse is plain and bears the name of the recipient and
the date of the award. The George Cross is worn before all other
decorations except the Victoria Cross.
The King announced the creation of the George Cross in a broadcast
to Britain and the Empire on the 23rd September 1940. In his
speech the King said: "In order that they should be
worthily and promptly recognised, I have decided to create,
at once, a new mark of honour for men and women in all walks
of civilian life. I propose to give my name to this new distinction,
which will consist of the George Cross, which will rank next
to the Victoria Cross, and the George Medal for wider distribution."
The formal announcement of the new award appeared the following
day. The Royal Warrant was published in the London Gazette on
31st January 1941.
The decoration is only awarded "for acts of the
greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in
circumstances of extreme danger". It has been
awarded directly to 155 people, 84 posthumously, and was
bestowed on over 100 recipients during the Second World
War. To date 17 members of the Corps (including one member
of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers and one member
of the Indian Engineers) have been awarded the George
Cross.
The selection of those listed below has been drawn from
the official Corps history (Vols: VIII, IX, and
X) and has been done on the principle "Once a
sapper, always a sapper". In this case the term
"sapper" refers to all those who have been awarded
the GC whilst serving with British Empire forces after
they had been either commissioned or enlisted as a member
of a British or Empire military engineer corps, whatever
their rank, speciality or national allegiance. |
The George Cross |
| Name |
Location |
Date |
Location of GC |
| 2nd Lieutenant Wallace Launcelot ANDREWS GC |
Croydon |
26 Aug 1940 |
Private |
| Lieutenant Bertram Stuart Trevelyan ARCHER GC |
Llandarcy, near Swansea, Wales |
2 Sep 1940 |
Private |
| Captain Herbert John Leslie BAREFOOT GC |
London |
22 Jan 1941 |
Imperial War Museum |
| 2nd Lieutentant Michael Paul BENNER GC (Posthumously) |
Grossglockner, Austria |
1 Jul 1957 |
Private |
| Captain Michael BLANEY GC (Posthumously) |
West Ham, London |
18 Sep 1940 |
Private |
| Major Herbert Edgar BURTON, EGM/GC, OBE |
Whitby, Yorkshire |
1 Nov 1914 |
Royal Engineers Museum |
| Lance
Sergeant William John BUTTON GC |
Britain |
18 Aug 1940 |
Royal Engineers Museum |
| 2nd
Lieutenant Alexander Fraser CAMPBELL GC (Posthumously) |
Coventry |
17 Oct 1940 |
Royal Engineers Museum |
| Lieutenant Robert DAVIES GC |
St. Paul's Cathedral, London |
12 Sep 1940 |
Imperial War Museum |
| Sergeant Michael GIBSON GC (Posthumously) |
Coventry |
18 Oct 1940 |
Private |
| Major Cyril Joseph MARTIN GC MC |
London |
17-18 Jan 1943 |
Private |
| Lieutenant Colonel A D MERRIMAN GC OBE |
Regent Street, London |
11 Sep 1940 |
Private |
Lieutenant John MacMillan Stevenson PATTON, GC, CBE
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers |
Weybridge, Surrey |
21 Sep1940 |
Not known |
| Lieutenant Edward Wormersley REYNOLDS GC |
Congresbury |
17 Aug 1940 |
Private |
Subedar SUBRAMANYAN GC (Posthumously)
Corps of Indian Engineers |
Mignano, Italy |
24 Feb 1944 |
Not known |
| 2nd
Lieutenant Ellis Edward TALBOT GC MBE |
Britain |
24-25 Aug 1940 |
Royal Engineers Museum |
| Sapper George Cameron WYLIE GC |
St. Paul's Cathedral, London |
12 Sep 1940 |
St. Paul's Cathedral, London |
