FOUR VICTORIA CROSSES TO THE ULSTER DIVISION
BRILLIANT ADDITIONS TO THE RECORD OF IRISH
VALOUR AND ROMANCE
The most signal proof of the exceptional gallantry of the Ulstermen is
afforded by the awarding of four Victoria Crosses to two officers and
two privates of the Division. There is many a Division that has not
won a single V.C. They must not be belittled on that score; their
ill-fortune and not their service is to blame. But the rarity of the
distinction, and the exceptional deed of bravery and self-sacrifice
needed to win it, reflects all the more glory on the achievements of
the Ulstermen. By the winning of four Victoria Crosses the Ulster
Division have made a name which will shine gloriously for all time in
the imperishable record of British gallantry on the battlefield.
Private William Frederick McFadzean of the Royal Irish Rifles was
posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for sacrificing himself
deliberately to save his comrades. The men of the battalion were
packed together in a concentration trench on the morning of July 1.
Just prior to the advance bombs were being distributed for use when
the German lines were reached. One of the boxes of these missiles
slipped down the trench and emptied its contents on the floor. Two of
the safety pins fell out. Shouts of alarm were raised. Men who would
face the German bombs undaunted shrank with a purely physical reaction
from the peril which thus accidentally threatened them. They knew that
in a moment these bombs would explode with a terrific detonation and
scatter death and mutilation among them. In that instant McFadzean
flung himself bodily on the top of the bombs. He was a bomber himself,
and he well knew the danger, but he did not hesitate. The bombs
exploded. All their tremendous powers of destruction were concentrated
upon the body which enveloped them in an embrace. McFadzean was blown
literally to bits. One only of his comrades was injured.
McFadzean was only twenty-one years of age. He was born at Lurgan,
County Armagh, and was a Presbyterian. A member of the Ulster
Volunteer Force, he joined the Young Citizens' Battalion (Belfast) of
the Royal Irish Rifles in September 1914.
The other private who won the Victoria Cross is Robert Quigg, also of
the Royal Irish Rifles. On the morning after the advance he went out
seven times, alone and in the face of danger, to try to find his
wounded officer, Sir Harry Macnaghten of Dundaraye, Antrim, and
returned on each occasion with a disabled man. Private Quigg is
thirty-one, the son of Robert Quigg, a guide and boatman at the
Giant's Causeway, Antrim. He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer
Force, and enlisted in the Royal Irish Rifles (Central Antrim
Volunteers) in September, 1914. He is an Episcopalian, an Orangeman
and a member of the flute band of his lodge.
The official account of Private Quigg's exploit is as follows--
"For most conspicuous bravery. He advanced to the assault with
his platoon three times. Early next morning, hearing a rumour
that his platoon officer was lying out wounded, he went out
seven times to look for him under heavy shell and machine-gun
fire, each time bringing back a wounded man. The last man he
dragged in on a waterproof sheet from within a few yards of the
enemy's wire. He was seven hours engaged in this most gallant
work, and finally was so exhausted that he had to give it up."
It was also "for most conspicuous bravery" in searching for wounded
men under continuous and heavy fire that Lieutenant Geoffrey
Shillington Cather of the Royal Irish Fusiliers got the Victoria
Cross. He lost his life in thus trying to succour others on the night
and morning after the advance of the Ulster Division. "From 7 p.m.
till midnight he searched 'No Man's Land,' and brought in three
wounded men," says the official account. "Next morning, at 8 a.m., he
continued his search, brought in another wounded man, and gave water
to others, arranging for their rescue later. Finally, at 10.30 a.m.,
he took out water to another man, and was proceeding further on when
he was himself killed. All this was carried out in full view of the
enemy, and under direct machine-gun fire, and intermittent artillery
fire. He set a splendid example of courage and self-sacrifice."
Lieutenant Cather was twenty-five years of age, a son of Mrs. Cather,
Priory Road, West Hampstead, London. His father, who was dead, had
been a tea merchant in the City. On his mother's side, Lieutenant
Cather was a grandson of the late Mr. Thomas Shillington, of Tavanagh
House, Portadown; and on his father's side, of the late Rev. Robert
Cather, a distinguished minister of the Irish Methodist Church. He was
a nephew of Captain D. Graham Shillington, of Ardeevin, Portadown,
who, with his son, Lieutenant T.G. Shillington, was serving in the
same battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Lieutenant Cather was
educated at Rugby. He first joined the Public Schools' Battalion of
the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), and obtained his
commission in the County Armagh Volunteers in May, 1915.
The second officer of the Ulster Division to win the Victoria Cross
was Captain Eric N.F. Bell of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, whose
gallantry on July 1 also cost him his life. He was about twenty-two
years old, one of three soldier sons of Captain E.H. Bell, formerly of
the Inniskillings (serving in Egypt in a garrison battalion of the
Royal Irish Regiment), and Mrs. Bell, an Enniskillen lady living in
Bootle. The two brothers of the late Captain Bell hold commissions in
the Ulster Division. The deeds for which he was awarded the Victoria
Cross are thus set out in the official account--
"For most conspicuous bravery. He was in command of a trench
mortar battery, and advanced with the infantry in the attack.
When our front line was hung up by enfilading machine-gun fire
Captain Bell crept forward and shot the machine gunner. Later,
on no less than three occasions, when our bombing parties, which
were clearing the enemy's trenches, were unable to advance, he
went forward and threw trench mortar bombs among the enemy. When
he had no more bombs available he stood on the parapet, under
intense fire, and used a rifle with great coolness and effect on
the enemy advancing to counter-attack. Finally he was killed
rallying and reorganising infantry parties which had lost their
officers. All this was outside the scope of his normal duties
with his battery. He gave his life in his supreme devotion to
duty."
Colonel Ricardo, in a very fine and sympathetic letter to the bereaved
mother, gives additional particulars of Captain Bell's gallantry--
"The General, hearing that his parents were old friends of mine,
has asked me to write on his behalf, sending his sympathy and
telling of the gallantry of Eric, which was outstanding on a day
when supreme courage and gallantry was the order of the day.
Eric was in command on July 1 of his trench mortar battery,
which had very important duties to perform, and which very
materially helped the advance. We know from his servant,
Private Stevenson, a great deal of Eric's share in the day's
work. He went forward with the advance, and, coming under heavy
machine-gun fire, and seeing where it came from, he took a rifle
and crawled towards the machine-gun and then shot the gunner in
charge, thus enabling a party on his flank to capture the gun.
This gallant action saved many lives.
"When in the German lines Eric worked splendidly, collecting
scattered units and helping to organise the defence. He was most
energetic, and never ceased to encourage the men and set all a
very fine example. Having exhausted all his mortar ammunition,
he organised a carrying party and started back to fetch up more
shells; it was whilst crossing back to our own line that Eric
was hit. He was shot through the body, and died in a few moments
without suffering. His servant stayed with him to the end and
arrived back quite exhausted, and has now been admitted into
hospital. Nothing could have exceeded the courage and resource
displayed by Eric. The Brigade are proud that he belonged to it.
It is only what I should have expected from him. It must be a
solace to his father and mother that he died such a gallant
death. He was a born soldier and a credit to his regiment. May I
add my heartfelt sympathy to my dear old friends."
Among the many other distinctions gained by the Division were Military
Crosses to two of the chaplains: Captain Rev. J. Jackson Wright and
Captain Rev. Joseph Henry McKew. Captain Wright was the Presbyterian
minister of Ballyshannon, County Donegal. He gave up that position
temporarily to accept an Army chaplaincy, and was posted to the Ulster
Division in November, 1914, being attached to the Inniskilling
Brigade. He was ordained in 1893. Captain McKew was curate of the
parish of Clones prior to being appointed Church of Ireland chaplain
to the troops in August, 1915. He is a Trinity man, and during his
university career won a moderatorship in history. Ordained in 1914, he
has spent his entire ministry under Canon Ruddell in Clones. Before
going to the Front he was a chaplain at the Curragh.
The company officers led their men with conspicuous gallantry and
steadfastness. "Come on, Ulsters;" "Remember July the First," they
cried. They were severely thinned out before the day was far advanced.
It was the same with the non-commissioned ranks. At the end several
parties of men desperately fighting had not an officer or a
non-commissioned officer left. Among the officers lost were two
brothers, Lieutenant Holt Montgomery Hewitt, Machine-gun Corps (Ulster
Division), and Second-Lieutenant William Arthur Hewitt, Royal
Inniskilling Fusiliers (Tyrone Volunteers). They were the sons of Mr.
J.H. Hewitt, manager of the workshops for the blind, Royal Avenue,
Belfast. A third son, Lieutenant Ernest Henry Hewitt, Royal Lancaster
Regiment, was killed in action on June 15, 1915. The three brothers
were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force before the War. They were
prominent athletes, and played Rugby football for the North of Ireland
club. In that respect they were typical of the officers of the Ulster
Division. They were also typical of them for high-mindedness and
cheerful devotion to duty. "Poor Holt, the most genial and lovable of
souls!" exclaims Lieutenant E.W. Crawford, the adjutant of his
battalion of the Inniskillings. "Willie led his platoon fearlessly
over the top." The commanding officer of the battalion, Colonel
Ricardo, in a letter to Mr. Hewitt, pays a remarkable tribute to
Second-Lieutenant William Holt. He says: "It was a sad day for us, and
I feel quite stunned and heartbroken. Your Willie was one of the
nicest-minded boys I ever knew. My wife saw a letter he wrote to the
widow of a man in his company, and she told me it was the most
beautiful letter of sympathy she had ever read. No one but a
spiritually-minded boy could have written such a letter. I made him my
assistant-adjutant, and of all my young lads I could spare him the
least. No words can express the sympathy we all feel for yourself and
Mrs. Hewitt and your family in this grievous double blow."
Captain C.C. Craig, Royal Irish Rifles (South Antrim Volunteers), M.P.
for South Antrim and brother of Colonel James Craig, M.P. for East
Down, was taken prisoner. When last seen he was lying wounded in a
shell hole at the most advanced point of the narrow and dangerous
salient carved by the Ulstermen in the enemy lines, shouting
encouragement to his company. In a letter to his wife, written from a
hospital at Gutersloh, Westphalia, Germany, and dated July 13, Captain
Craig states it was while he was directing his men to convert the C
line of trenches into defences against the Germans by making them face
the opposite way, that he was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the back
of the leg below the knee. "This put me out of action," he says. "I
was bandaged up, and, as I could not get about, I sent a message to R.
Neill to take command, and I crawled to a shell-hole, where I lay for
six hours. This was at about 10 a.m. on the 1st July. During this six
hours the shelling and machine-gun fire was very heavy, but my
shell-hole protected me so well that I was not hit again, except for a
very small piece of shrapnel on the arm, which only made a small cut."
At about four o'clock in the afternoon the enemy made a counter
attack, during which Captain Craig was found and taken prisoner.
Describing his treatment as a prisoner, Captain Craig says--
"I had to hobble into a trench close at hand, where I stayed
till ten o'clock, till two Germans took me to another line of
trenches about 400 or 500 yards further back. This was the worst
experience I had, as my leg was stiff and painful. The space
between the lines was being heavily shelled by our guns, and my
two supporters were naturally anxious to get over the ground as
quickly as possible, and did not give me much rest, so I was
very glad when, after what seemed an age, though it was not more
than fifteen minutes or so, we got to the trench. I was put in a
deep dug-out, where there were a lot of officers and men, and
they were all very kind to me and gave me food and water, and
here I spent the night. My leg was by now much swollen, but not
painful except when I tried to walk. There were no stretchers,
so in the morning I had to hobble as best I could out of the
trenches till we came to a wood. Soon after I passed a dug-out
where some artillery officers lived, and the captain seeing my
condition refused to allow me to go any further on foot, and
took me in and gave me food and wine, and set his men to make a
kind of sling to carry me in. This proved a failure; as I was so
heavy, I nearly broke the men's shoulders. He then got a
wheelbarrow, and in this I was wheeled a mile or more to a
dressing station, where my wound was dressed, and I was
inoculated for tetanus. That night I was taken to a village, and
had a comfortable bed and a good sleep."
Another officer of the Division who was "pipped," as he calls it,
tells in an interesting story how he worked himself along the ground
towards the British lines, and his experiences on the way. "By and
by," he says, "a Boche corporal came crawling along after me. He
shouted some gibberish, and I waved him on towards our lines with my
revolver. He wasn't wounded, but he was devilish anxious to make sure
of being a prisoner--begad, you don't get our chaps paying them the
same compliment. They'll take any risks sooner than let the Boche get
them as prisoners. So this chap lay down close beside me. I told him
to be off out o' that, but he lay close, and I'd no breath to spare.
That crawling is tiresome work. Presently I saw a man of ours coming
along, poking round with his rifle and bayonet. He'd been detailed to
shepherd in prisoners. He was surprised to see me. Then he saw my
Boche. 'Hell to yer sowl!' says he; 'what the divil are ye doin' there
beside my officer? Get up,' says he, 'an' be off with ye out a' that!'
And he poked at him with his bayonet; so the fellow squealed and
plucked up enough courage to get up on his feet and run for our lines.
Our own man wanted to help me back--a good fellow, you know--but I'd
time enough before me, so told him to carry on. I wriggled all the way
back to our line, and a stretcher-bearer got me there, so I was all
right."
When they were relieved, the survivors of the Division came back very
tired and bedraggled, their faces black with battle smoke and their
uniforms white from the chalky soil. But they were in a joyous mood;
and well they might be, for they had battered in one of the doors of
the supposed impregnable German trenches and left it ajar. Their
exploits add a brilliant chapter to the record of Irish valour and
romance. Grief for the dead will soon subside into a sad memory, but
the glory of what they accomplished will endure for ever. Because of
it, the First of July is certain to be as great a day for Ulster in
the future as the Twelfth has been in the past.