Alfred Atkinson

Seven times Sergeant Alfred Atkinson walked into enemy fire to bring water to wounded soldiers. On the seventh journey, a bullet struck him in the head. Three days later, he was dead. He was only 26 years old. That extraordinary act of self-sacrifice at the Battle of Paardeberg on 18 February 1900 would place Atkinson among the most remarkable Victoria Cross recipients of the Second Boer War and ensure that his name endured long after the battlefield fell silent.

Alfred Atkinson was born on 6 February 1874 at Armley, Leeds, Yorkshire, into a family already connected with military service. His father, James Atkinson, served in the Royal Artillery and attained the rank of Farrier Major. Alfred chose the Army for himself, enlisting in the Yorkshire Regiment in November 1891. He joined the 1st Battalion and advanced rapidly for a young soldier, becoming a corporal in 1892, lance sergeant later that year, and sergeant in April 1895. After completing seven years with the colours, he transferred to the Army Reserve in December 1897. His civilian interlude would not last long.

When war broke out in South Africa in 1899, Atkinson was recalled to the colours. He rejoined the Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) and sailed with the 1st Battalion, arriving at Cape Town on 16 December 1899. Within weeks, British forces were attempting to break Boer resistance and relieve Kimberley. Atkinson's service during this advance qualified him for the Queen's South Africa Medal 1899-1902 with the clasps Relief of Kimberley and Paardeberg, the campaign medal that accompanied the far more famous decoration his courage would soon earn.

Then came Paardeberg. On 18 February 1900, British troops attacked the forces of Boer General Piet Cronje near the Modder River. The fighting was intense, casualties mounted, and wounded men lay exposed under fire. In those conditions, Sergeant Atkinson repeatedly left comparative safety to obtain water for them. He did not make the journey once, or twice. He went out seven times. His official Victoria Cross citation recorded that these journeys were made under "heavy and close fire". On his seventh attempt, Atkinson was struck in the head. He lingered for three days before dying near Paardeberg on 21 February 1900.

Atkinson's courage presented an unusual problem in the history of the Victoria Cross. He had died before the decoration could be awarded to him under the practice then governing the VC. On 8 August 1902, King Edward VII approved the delivery of Victoria Crosses to the representatives of several men who had died after performing acts of valour that would have justified recommendation had they survived. Among them was No. 3264 Sergeant A. Atkinson, Yorkshire Regiment. His citation appeared in The London Gazette, No. 27462, 8 August 1902, page 5086, formally recording the seven journeys for water and the fatal wound he received on the last. His Victoria Cross was subsequently delivered to his father.

There is another detail that makes Atkinson's story particularly powerful. His heroism was not an isolated flash of courage from an otherwise undistinguished soldier. Contemporary regimental testimony described him as an exemplary soldier and excellent non-commissioned officer. He had spent years rising through the ranks, mastering his profession and earning the responsibility carried by a sergeant. At Paardeberg, that sense of duty reached its ultimate expression. He repeatedly exposed himself not to attack an enemy position or win personal glory, but simply to bring water to wounded men who could not help themselves.

Sergeant Alfred Atkinson VC was buried at Gruisbank near Paardeberg, close to the battlefield where he received his fatal wound. His Victoria Cross and associated medals are preserved by the Green Howards Museum in Richmond, Yorkshire, while his name remains part of the regiment's historical memory. Even the former regimental depot site at Richmond remembers him through Atkinson Avenue, one of several roads named for Green Howards Victoria Cross recipients.

More than a century later, the reason Alfred Atkinson is remembered requires no embellishment. Seven journeys under fire. Seven attempts to reach wounded comrades. The seventh cost him his life. His Victoria Cross was recognition of an act performed without expectation of reward, and his Queen's South Africa Medal with Relief of Kimberley and Paardeberg clasps records the campaign in which that sacrifice was made. Sergeant Alfred Atkinson's story remains one of the most compelling examples of courage, duty and selflessness in the history of the Yorkshire Regiment and the Victoria Cross.