Cecil John Kinross

On 30 October 1917, amid the shattered ground and intense fire of Passchendaele, Private Cecil John Kinross advanced alone across open ground in broad daylight against a German machine-gun position. His extraordinary action broke the resistance holding up his company and earned him the Victoria Cross.

Cecil John Kinross was born on 17 February 1896 at Harefield, Middlesex, England. As a young man he emigrated with his family to Alberta, Canada, where they settled near Lougheed and took up farming. With the First World War underway, Kinross enlisted at Calgary on 21 October 1915 as Private 437793 with the 51st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. After travelling to Britain he was posted to the 9th Reserve Battalion, and in March 1916 proceeded to France for active service with the 49th (Edmonton) Battalion, CEF.

Kinross soon experienced the brutality of the Western Front. During fighting on the Somme on 8 October 1916 he was wounded by shrapnel in the right arm and side. After recovering, he returned to his unit and continued serving with the 49th Battalion. By the autumn of 1917 the Canadian Corps had been committed to the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium, where terrible weather, mud, artillery fire and strongly defended German positions made every advance extremely difficult.

On 30 October 1917, Kinross's company came under intense artillery fire and its advance was stopped by severe fire from an enemy machine gun. After carefully assessing the position, Kinross deliberately removed all of his equipment except his rifle and ammunition bandolier. Disregarding his own safety, he advanced alone across open ground in broad daylight and charged the machine-gun position. He killed the six-man crew, seized the machine gun and destroyed it. His example restored confidence to his company and enabled it to advance approximately 300 yards and establish an important new position. Kinross continued fighting aggressively against heavy opposition until he was seriously wounded.

For this action Private Cecil John Kinross was awarded the Victoria Cross. His award appeared in London Gazette issue 30471 in January 1918. The official citation praised both his conspicuous bravery and the effect his individual action had on the advance of his company. Kinross's wounds at Passchendaele, which included injuries to his head and left arm, ended his front-line service. He was evacuated to Britain and later posted to the 21st Reserve Battalion.

Kinross returned to Canada after the war and was honourably discharged on 17 February 1919. He returned to Alberta and spent much of the remainder of his life in the Lougheed district. He never again returned to front-line military service. In 1951, Mount Kinross in the Canadian Rockies near Jasper was named in his honour, preserving the name of one of Canada's Passchendaele Victoria Cross recipients.

Private Cecil John Kinross, VC, died at Lougheed, Alberta, on 21 June 1957. His Victoria Cross commemorates an exceptional act of individual courage: a lone infantryman crossing exposed ground under enemy fire, destroying the machine gun that had halted his comrades, and enabling his company to continue its advance during one of the First World War's most punishing battles.