Alfred James Terence Fleming-Sandes

Alfred James Terence “Arthur” Fleming-Sandes VC MiD was born on 24 June 1894 at Tulse Hill, London. He was educated at Dulwich College Preparatory School and The King’s School, Canterbury. During the First World War he served with the 2nd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment.

On 29 September 1915, during the fighting at the Hohenzollern Redoubt in France, Second Lieutenant Fleming-Sandes was sent to take command of a company in a dangerous and badly shaken position. Under heavy bombing and machine-gun fire, his men were beginning to retire. Fleming-Sandes collected several bombs, climbed onto the parapet in full view of German troops only about twenty yards away, and began throwing them.

He was severely wounded almost at once, but continued forward and kept throwing bombs until he was wounded again. His courage rallied his men and saved the situation. For this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross, which was presented to him by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 15 January 1916.

After a long convalescence, Fleming-Sandes served as an instructor with No. 5 Officer Cadet Battalion at Trinity College, Cambridge, and later worked at the War Office. He was promoted lieutenant in 1917 and held the acting rank of captain near the end of the war.

After leaving the Army, he worked briefly as a schoolmaster before moving to Sudan, where he joined the Sudan Government’s Education Department. He later entered the Political Service, studied law at Gordon College, Khartoum, and became a District Judge. He was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1927 and became fluent in Arabic. In 1932 he was awarded the Order of the Nile, 4th Class.

Fleming-Sandes married Dorothea May Weeks on 27 August 1932. In 1935 he became a Judge of the Sudan High Court and occasionally acted as Chief Justice. During the Second World War he was commissioned as a bimbashi, equivalent to major, in the Sudan Auxiliary Force and served as Judge Advocate General of the Sudan Defence Force from 1942 to 1944.

He retired to Britain in 1944 and served as Chairman of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal for England and Wales from 1945 to 1958. He died suddenly at the White Horse Hotel, Romsey, Hampshire, on 24 May 1961, and was cremated at Torquay Crematorium.

His medals included the Victoria Cross, 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal with Mentioned in Despatches oak leaf, War Medal 1939–45, King George VI Coronation Medal 1937, Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953, and the Order of the Nile, 4th Class. His medals were once stolen in Sudan, but the Victoria Cross was recovered after the thief left it behind, apparently believing it had little value. His medal group is now associated with the Surrey Infantry Museum.