Albert White

Sergeant Albert White VC (1 December 1892 – 19 May 1917) was an English soldier from Kirkdale, Liverpool, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for sacrificing his life during an attack near Monchy-le-Preux in May 1917. Before the First World War, he worked as a coal trimmer in the merchant navy and served aboard the White Star Line steamship Laurentic. White joined the Royal Army Medical Corps on 23 October 1914. On 1 June 1915, he transferred to the 2nd Battalion, The South Wales Borderers. He arrived at Gallipoli in July 1915 and saw action at Cape Helles and during the Suvla Bay landings. Following the Allied evacuation of Gallipoli, he spent a brief period in Egypt before his battalion was sent to France in March 1916. By the summer of 1916, White had been promoted to sergeant and was serving on the Western Front. He fought at Beaumont-Hamel during the Battle of the Somme in July. In January 1917, he returned to Britain to undertake officer training after being selected for a commission. He subsequently withdrew from the course because of the financial expense involved while he was helping to support his younger siblings. White returned to his battalion in France in April 1917. On 19 May 1917, White was killed during fighting east of Arras near Monchy-le-Preux. His company, D Company, was attacking German positions at Devil's Trench when both officers leading the assault were killed, leaving White to assume command. The advance was being held up by a German machine-gun position that had not previously been located. Realising the danger it posed to his men, White went forward alone in an attempt to capture the gun. He reached within a few yards of the position before being struck by machine-gun fire and killed. White's body was not recovered, and he has no known grave. He is commemorated on Bay 6 of the Arras Memorial to the Missing. His Victoria Cross was presented to his father, Thomas White, by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 21 July 1917. White's Victoria Cross was announced in The London Gazette on 27 June 1917, Supplement 30154, page 6382: “For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. Realising during an attack that one of the enemy's machine guns, which had previously not been located, would hold up the whole advance of his Company, Sjt. White, without the slightest hesitation and regardless of all personal danger, dashed ahead of his Company to capture the gun. When within a few yards of the gun he fell riddled with bullets, having thus willingly sacrificed his life in order that he might secure the success of the operations and the welfare of his comrades.”