Christopher Augustus Cox

Rescuing wounded soldiers under fire at Achiet-le-Grand 1917

Christopher Augustus Cox was born on Christmas Day 1889 in King’s Langley, Hertfordshire. A farm labourer, he enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment shortly after the First World War began. He served as a private and stretcher-bearer with the 7th Battalion, reaching France with the battalion in July 1915. The work of a stretcher-bearer placed him directly among the wounded, often in exposed ground under artillery and machine-gun fire.

Cox was wounded in the leg on 1 July 1916 during the opening day of the Somme campaign. After recovering, he returned to his battalion in time for the fighting at Thiepval in September and remained with it through the winter. In March 1917, during an attack near Achiet-le-Grand, the leading troops were forced into shell holes by intense German fire. Cox left cover and went into the open to rescue four men on his own. After bringing in the wounded from his battalion, he helped carry in men from an adjoining battalion. On each of the next two days he continued the same rescue work, repeatedly crossing fire-swept ground.

The War Office announced Cox’s Victoria Cross in the London Gazette on 11 May 1917. King George V presented the decoration at Buckingham Palace in July 1917. Cox had been wounded again before the award ceremony and later returned to England. His actions as a stretcher-bearer showed the dangers faced by medical orderlies and litter-bearers, who went forward without the protection of a weapon to bring casualties back for treatment.

After the war, Cox returned to King’s Langley and worked as a builder before joining the Ovaltine factory in 1922. He and his wife, Maud Swan, raised a family. During the Second World War he served in the local Home Guard. Cox died at Hill End Hospital on 28 April 1959 and was buried in Kings Langley Cemetery. His village later commemorated him with a local memorial and a plaque at Achiet-le-Grand, where his Victoria Cross action took place.

Victoria Cross citation

“No. 13909 Pte. Christopher Cox, Bedf. R.

For most conspicuous bravery and continuous devotion to duty when acting as a stretcher-bearer.

During the attack of his battalion the front wave was checked by the severity of the enemy artillery and machine gun fire, and the whole line had to take cover in shell holes to avoid annihilation. Pte. Cox, utterly regardless of personal safety, went out over fire-swept ground, and single-handed rescued four men. Having collected the wounded of his own battalion, he then assisted to bring in the wounded of an adjoining battalion. On the two subsequent days he carried out similar rescue work with the same disregard of his own safety. He has on all occasions displayed the same high example of unselfishness and valour.”