Alfred Maurice Toye

Brigadier Alfred Maurice Toye was a British Army officer and Victoria Cross recipient. He was born on 15 April 1897 at Stanhope Lines, Aldershot, Hampshire, and was educated at the Garrison School, Aldershot. As a boy he was active in the Scout movement and became a King’s Scout before joining the Royal Engineers’ Boys Battalion as a bugler in 1912.

During the First World War, Toye was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment). He was awarded the Military Cross in 1917 for gallantry during the Third Battle of Ypres, where he maintained communications under heavy fire. By March 1918 he was serving as an Acting Captain.

Toye won the Victoria Cross for his actions on 25 March 1918 at Eterpigny Ridge, France, during the German Spring Offensive. When enemy forces captured a key post, Toye repeatedly re-established the position under heavy pressure. After learning that other posts were cut off, he fought through the enemy with one officer and six men, rallied about 70 retiring troops, counter-attacked, and held a line until reinforcements arrived. In later operations he covered the retirement of his battalion and re-established a line that had been abandoned, despite being wounded twice.

He received the Victoria Cross from King George V at Queen’s Parade, Aldershot, on 8 June 1918. After the Armistice, Toye served in North Russia and later with the Army of the Rhine. From 1925 he served as Chief Instructor at the Royal Egyptian Military College, for which he was later appointed Commander of the Order of the Nile.

During the Second World War he served as Commandant of the War Office School of Chemical Warfare, later with the 6th Airborne Division, and then with General Headquarters Middle East. He was promoted to Brigadier in 1948 and retired from the Army in 1949. Toye died on 6 September 1955 at Tiverton, Devon, and was buried in Tiverton Cemetery. His Victoria Cross medal group is held by the National Army Museum, Chelsea.