Arthur George Knight

Acting Sergeant Arthur George Knight, VC (26 June 1886 – 03 September 1918), regimental service number 426402, was an English-Canadian soldier who received the Victoria Cross during the First World War.

He was born in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England. Knight worked as a carpenter before emigrating to Canada in 1911. He settled in Regina, Saskatchewan. Later enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in December 1914. He sailed for Europe with reinforcements in 1915 and joined the 10th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment), on the Western Front in August 1915.

Health issues halted his initial frontline service. Severe kidney troubles and myalgia forced his medical evacuation to England in December 1915, requiring ten months of hospital care and convalescence in Kent. Knight returned to his battalion in France in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He rose through the non-commissioned ranks over the next two years, becoming a corporal in September 1917 and an acting sergeant in August 1918. In November 1917, King Leopold III of Belgium conferred upon him the Belgian Croix de Guerre for gallantry during raiding operations.

During the Canadian Corps' assault against the Drocourt-Quéant Line on 02 September 1918, Knight served with the 10th Battalion near Villers-lès-Cagnicourt, France. Heavy machine-gun and trench-mortar fire checked his unit's advance. Knight stepped forward to direct infantry bombing groups, repeatedly advancing alone into enemy strongpoints to bayonet gun crews and force them to retreat. After capturing a Lewis light machine gun to pin down fleeing troops, he single-handedly charged a tunnel network, killing three enemy leaders and capturing twenty prisoners before routing another group.

The London Gazette officially promulgated his Victoria Cross award in Supplement 31012 on 15 November 1918 as cited:

"For most conspicuous bravery, initiative, and devotion to duty when, after an unsuccessful attack, Sjt. Knight led a bombing section forward, under very heavy fire of all descriptions, and engaged the enemy at close quarters. Seeing that his party continued to be held up, he went forward alone, bayoneting several machine gunners and trench mortar crews, and forcing the rest to retire. Then bringing forward a Lewis gun he directed his fire on the retreating enemy. His platoon went in pursuit, and the sergeant, seeing about thirty of the enemy going into a tunnel leading off the trench, again went forward alone, killed an officer and two N.C.O.'s, and took twenty prisoners. After this, again single-handed, he routed another hostile party. Sjt. Knight showed throughout the highest order of leadership and personal courage. Later he was fatally wounded."

Knight did not live to hear of his award. On 03 September 1918, the day after his actions at Villers-lès-Cagnicourt, enemy artillery shell shrapnel struck him in the head near Buissy. He died shortly afterward at a field ambulance hospital near Hendecourt-lès-Cagnicourt at age thirty-two. Burial took place on 04 September 1918 in Plot 1, Row F, Grave 15 of Dominion Cemetery in Hendecourt-lès-Cagnicourt, France. His parents received his Victoria Cross from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 19 December 1918. His medal collection, which includes the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal 1914–20, Victory Medal 1914–19, and Belgian Croix de Guerre, resides at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta.