Billy Congreve

By the age of just twenty-five, Major William La Touche “Billy” Congreve had already earned the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross and France’s Légion d’honneur. He had survived some of the fiercest fighting of the First World War, repeatedly placed himself under enemy fire, and built a reputation for going forward when his duties might easily have allowed him to remain behind the line. On 20 July 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, that extraordinary career ended when a sniper shot him through the throat near Longueval. His Victoria Cross would be awarded posthumously for a sustained fourteen days of gallantry immediately before his death.

William La Touche Congreve was born on 22 March 1891 at Burton Hall in Cheshire, the son of Walter Norris Congreve and Cecilia Henrietta Dolores La Touche. His father, later General Sir Walter Congreve VC KCB MVO, had himself won the Victoria Cross at Colenso on 15 December 1899 during the Second Boer War. Father and son became one of only three father-and-son combinations to receive the Victoria Cross, placing the Congreve name in a remarkable position in British military history. William was educated at Summer Fields School in Oxford and Eton College before entering the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in The Rifle Brigade on 4 March 1911 and joined the 3rd Battalion in Ireland. He was promoted Lieutenant in February 1913. Service-record research and specialist Victoria Cross sources support 22 March 1891 as his birth date.

When the First World War began, Congreve went to France with the British Expeditionary Force, landing at St Nazaire on 12 September 1914. Within days he was attached to the staff of Major General Hubert Hamilton, commanding the 3rd Division, as an aide-de-camp. Congreve quickly discovered that staff service on the Western Front offered little protection from danger. On 14 October 1914, Hamilton was killed when German shrapnel burst over a group of officers near La Couture. Congreve continued serving on the divisional staff and experienced the fighting around Ypres during the desperate opening months of the war. His surviving diary reveals a young officer who watched events closely, recorded them candidly, and repeatedly sought opportunities to be near the fighting rather than distant from it.

By 1915 Congreve had been promoted Captain, and his courage was becoming increasingly difficult for his superiors to overlook. During the fighting around Hooge, contemporary accounts describe him rallying men, bringing reinforcements forward and assisting a battalion commander while exposed to continuous heavy fire. His Military Cross was formally announced in the London Gazette on 14 January 1916. The Gazette notice names Captain William La Touche Congreve among the recipients but does not provide an individual narrative citation, so later claims about the exact circumstances must be drawn from contemporary and regimental accounts rather than from a separate published MC citation.

Congreve had also attracted foreign recognition. In October 1915 the French government appointed him a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, an honour later formally recorded for British wear. By December he had become Brigade Major of the 76th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division. His new appointment was a staff role of considerable responsibility, yet Congreve continued to expose himself personally wherever the situation appeared most dangerous. He was also repeatedly Mentioned in Despatches for his wartime service.

His next major distinction came during the violent crater fighting around St Eloi in the spring of 1916. When a newly captured position was in danger at a critical moment, Congreve went forward and helped stabilize the situation. He then used extraordinary personal boldness to bring about the surrender of a substantial body of German officers and soldiers. Secondary accounts disagree over the exact number of prisoners, so the official wording is more reliable than later numerical claims. His Distinguished Service Order citation opened simply, “For conspicuous gallantry,” and recorded that he consolidated the newly won position under extremely difficult circumstances before his personal courage brought about the surrender of a considerable body of the enemy.

Only weeks later, Congreve returned briefly to Britain and married Pamela Cynthia Maude at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 1 June 1916. He soon returned to France and held the rank of Brevet Major as the British Army prepared for the Somme offensive. From 6 July onward, the 3rd Division became heavily engaged around Longueval and Delville Wood. Congreve was everywhere. He personally reconnoitred enemy positions, taking officers and non-commissioned officers more than 1,000 yards forward so they would understand the ground before attacking. He conducted troops to their assembly positions by night, returned after assaults to establish what had happened, and occupied exposed observation points from which he could direct operations against German positions.

The most revealing incidents came when Congreve was no longer simply gathering information. After Brigade Headquarters was heavily shelled and numerous casualties resulted, he went out with the medical officer to move wounded men to safety despite suffering himself from the effects of gas and shellfire. On another occasion he again tended wounded soldiers under heavy bombardment. The official Victoria Cross citation described his conduct as “most conspicuous bravery during a period of fourteen days preceding his death in action.” It emphasized not one isolated act, but a continuous pattern of personal reconnaissance, leadership under fire, rescue of wounded men and deliberate exposure to danger that inspired those serving around him.

On 20 July 1916, Congreve went forward once more after difficulties during operations around Longueval and the attempted relief of troops near Delville Wood. He visited the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment to establish the situation. While observing the position and preparing his report, he was shot through the throat by a sniper and killed instantly. He was twenty-five years old. His death came only seven weeks after his marriage. His daughter, Mary Gloria Congreve, whom he never lived to see, was born on 21 March 1917.

Congreve’s Victoria Cross was announced in the Fourth Supplement to the London Gazette of 24 October 1916, published on 26 October. On 1 November 1916, King George V presented the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross to Congreve’s widow at Buckingham Palace. His complete wartime entitlement also included the 1914 Star with clasp entitlement, the British War Medal 1914-1920, the Victory Medal with Mention in Despatches emblem, and the French Légion d’honneur as a Chevalier. He was buried in Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension, Plot I, Row F, Grave 35.

The Victoria Cross completed one of the most remarkable records accumulated by a young British officer during the First World War. Congreve became the first officer of the war to hold the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross. Yet the official citations reveal something more important than the number of decorations he received. At Hooge, St Eloi and finally Longueval, the same pattern appeared again and again: when men were under pressure, when wounded soldiers lay exposed, or when the situation at the front was uncertain, Billy Congreve went forward himself. His life was short, but his record made his name inseparable from the Rifle Brigade, the Battle of the Somme and the history of the Victoria Cross.