|
|
| Page revised: 15 January, 2008 |
Corporal Frank Howard KIRBY VC |
| Born: | Thame, Oxfordshire - 12 November 1871 | 
|
|
| Died: | Sidcup, Kent - 8 July 1956 | ||
| Burial details: | Cremated South London | ||
| Corps service: | He enlisted into the Corps in 1892. He was prompted to troop sergeant major shortly after the raid which earned him a VC. He became RSM at Chatham in 1906. In 1911 he was commissioned and was posted to the Air Battalion. When that unit was formed into the Royal Flying Corps (1912) he transferred and spent the rest of his career in aviation. He served during the First World War (1914-18) and by 1918 was a full Colonel. Retired as Group Captain FH Kirby, VC, CBE, DCM |
||
| VC awarded: | Won VC near Bronkhorstspruit, Delagoa Bay Railway, Pretoria, South Africa. on 2 June 1900 (Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902) | ||
| VC unit: | No 1 Field Troop, Royal Engineers, 1st Division. | ||
| VC presented: | VC presented by the Duke of York at Cape Town on 19 August 1901. | ||
| VC citation: | On the morning of 2 June 1900 a party sent to try to
cut the Delagoa Bay Railway were retiring, hotly pressed by very superior
numbers. During one of the successive retirements of the rearguard,
a man, whose horse had been shoot, was seen running after his comrades.
He was a long way behind the rest of his troop and was under a brisk
fire. From among the retiring troop Corporal Kirby turned and rode
back to the man's assistance. Although by the time he reach him they
were under heavy fire at close range, Corporal Kirby managed to get
the dismounted man up behind him and take him clear of the next rise
held by our rearguard. This is the third occasion on which Corporal
Kirby has displayed gallantry in the face of the enemy. (London Gazette: 5 October 1900) |
||
| VC location: | Royal Engineers Museum | ||
| Source:
Additional material: SC Fenwick, FoREM Links to further reading:
|
Royal Engineers Museum main site
