Albert Hill

The Denton Hatter Who Won the Victoria Cross at Delville Wood Before Albert Hill became one of the most highly decorated soldiers to emerge from Denton, he was a mill worker and apprentice hatter from Manchester. On 20 July 1916, at the height of the Battle of the Somme, the 21-year-old private found himself cut off and nearly surrounded in the shattered landscape of Delville Wood. What followed was a remarkable sequence of close-quarter fighting, rescue and prisoner-taking that earned him the Victoria Cross and secured his place in the history of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The Gazette Private Albert Hill VC was born in Hulme, Manchester, on 24 May 1895. He was one of a large family, the son of Thomas Hill, a coal miner, and Elizabeth Hill. After the family settled in Denton, Albert attended Trinity Wesleyan School. He later worked at Alpha Mill before becoming an apprentice planker in the hat-making trade with Joseph Wilson & Sons Ltd on Wilton Street. The occupation would remain closely associated with him throughout his life, and after his wartime fame he became known locally as the "Hatters' VC." victoriacrossonline.co.uk Hill enlisted in the British Army on 3 August 1914, only days after the outbreak of the First World War. He joined C Company of the 10th (Service) Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, service number 15280. The battalion served with 76th Brigade in the 3rd Division. During the Great War the regiment was officially styled "Royal Welsh Fusiliers"; the older spelling "Welch" was not officially restored until 1920. Pitt Dixon On 27 September 1915, Hill left Dover aboard SS Onward for service on the Western Front. The 10th Battalion reached the Hooge area near Ypres in October, beginning months of trench warfare before moving south for the Somme fighting in the summer of 1916. Hill's brother Joseph had also gone to war and was later killed during the Somme campaign. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. victoriacrossonline.co.uk The defining moment of Albert Hill's military career came on 20 July 1916 at Delville Wood. The 10th Royal Welsh Fusiliers were engaged in extremely heavy fighting as they attempted to advance through the devastated wood. The regiment's museum records that the battalion suffered 228 casualties in the action. Both Hill and Corporal Joseph John Davies of the same battalion would receive the Victoria Cross for their conduct that day. Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum Hill's official Victoria Cross citation was published in the Supplement to the London Gazette on 26 September 1916. It records that when the order to charge was given he rushed forward and bayoneted two enemy soldiers. Later, while trying to regain contact with his company, he became cut off and almost surrounded by about twenty Germans. Hill attacked them with bombs, killing or wounding several and dispersing the remainder. He then helped a sergeant fight his way back to the British line. Hearing that his company officer and a scout were lying wounded in the open, Hill went out again and helped bring the officer in. He finished the action by personally capturing two enemy soldiers and bringing them back as prisoners. The official citation concluded with the memorable assessment, "His conduct throughout was magnificent." The Gazette On 30 September 1916, Brigadier General R. J. Kentish presented Hill with the ribbon of the Victoria Cross at Enquin-les-Mines in France, with Corporal Joseph John Davies receiving his ribbon at the same ceremony. Later in 1916, King George V personally invested Hill with the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace. Published specialist records place the palace investiture in November 1916. victoriacrossonline.co.uk Hill's courage was also recognized by Britain's allies. The French government awarded him the Croix de Guerre. The official London Gazette supplement of 9 December 1916 records 15280 Private Albert Hill among the soldiers upon whom the President of the French Republic had bestowed the Croix de Guerre "in recognition of their distinguished service during the campaign." Published research into Hill's surviving medal group identifies his award as being worn with a Bronze Palm. The Gazette Imperial Russia also honoured Hill with the Cross of St. George. The Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum specifically confirms his possession of the Russian decoration. Several Manchester and Greater Manchester historical sources describe Hill's Cross of St. George as First Class, but no Hill-specific primary Russian award document establishing the class has yet been located. For that reason, the historically safest wording for publication is simply Imperial Russian Cross of St. George until the original award roll, certificate or equivalent official record can be identified. Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum Hill's First World War service also entitled him to the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal 1914-1920 and Victory Medal. Published records of his medal group additionally record the King George VI Coronation Medal 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953. These later honours reflected Hill's continuing place among Britain's surviving Victoria Cross recipients long after his active military service had ended. victoriacrossonline.co.uk During the later part of the war, Hill served for a time as an orderly to Lieutenant William Murrell Lummis MC, who subsequently became an important early researcher into the lives and service records of Victoria Cross recipients. Hill was demobilised on 16 February 1919 and returned to civilian life in Denton, once again working at Wilson's hat factory. victoriacrossonline.co.uk On 14 February 1920, Hill married Doris May Wilson at St. George's Church in Hyde. Three years later the couple left Britain for the United States. They sailed aboard RMS Scythia on 12 May 1923, arriving in Boston on 21 May. They initially settled in Central Falls, Rhode Island, before moving to Pawtucket in 1933. Hill worked as a bricklayer's labourer for the H. M. Soule Construction Company, and the couple raised four children. victoriacrossonline.co.uk Even in middle age Hill remained eager to serve. During the Second World War he attempted to enlist in the United States military, but at 46 he was instead directed towards defence work. Records place him working for the H&B Machine Company in Pawtucket. Hill and his wife became naturalized American citizens in 1944. GM 1914 His connection with Britain and the Victoria Cross community never disappeared. Hill returned to London for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953, attending as part of the Victoria Cross contingent, and visited Denton during the same trip. He returned again in 1956 for events marking the centenary of the Victoria Cross. victoriacrossonline.co.uk Albert Hill died at Pawtucket Memorial Hospital, Rhode Island, on 17 February 1971, aged 75. He was buried with military honours at Highland Memorial Park in Johnston, Rhode Island. More than half a century after Delville Wood, the former Denton hatter was laid to rest thousands of miles from the battlefield where he had earned Britain's highest award for valour. victoriacrossonline.co.uk His Victoria Cross is preserved today by the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum at Caernarfon Castle, alongside the regiment's remarkable collection of Victoria Crosses. At Delville Wood, Albert Hill and Joseph John Davies are also commemorated together, linking their names permanently with the desperate fighting of 20 July 1916. Victoria Cross Albert Hill's story is remarkable not because of a single medal, but because of the distance between the life he began and the history he entered. He went from the mills and hat works of Manchester to the trenches of the Western Front, survived one of the Somme's fiercest battles, received the Victoria Cross from King George V, was honoured by France and Imperial Russia, and eventually built a new life in the United States. More than a century after Delville Wood, Private Albert Hill VC remains one of the most distinguished soldiers associated with Denton and the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.