Edgar Thomas Inkson

Carried a wounded officer to safety through heavy Boer fire.

Edgar Thomas Inkson was born at Nainital, India, on 5 April 1872. After medical training in London, he joined the Army Medical Service in 1899 and served in South Africa during the Second Boer War. Attached to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, he treated men fighting to relieve Ladysmith.

On 24 February 1900, near Colenso, Lieutenant Inkson found Second Lieutenant Devenish severely wounded and unable to walk. Across exposed ground, under intense fire, he carried the officer several hundred yards to safety. This rescue earned the Victoria Cross.

Inkson returned to active medical service during the First World War. He commanded field ambulance and hospital units and received the Distinguished Service Order. His final rank was colonel. He died at Chichester on 19 February 1947; after cremation, his ashes were buried in the family plot at Brookwood Cemetery.

Official Victoria Cross citation

On the 24th February, 1900, Lieutenant Inkson carried Second Lieutenant Devenish (who was severely wounded and unable to walk) for three or four hundred yards under a very heavy fire to a place of safety. The ground over which Lieutenant Inkson had to move was much exposed, there being no cover available.

The London Gazette of 15 January 1901, Numb. 27266, p. 308

Distinguished Service Order official award notice

Lt.-Col. Edgar Thomas Inkson, V.C., R.A.M.C.

The London Gazette, 1 January 1917, supplement page23. This published list records the appointment without an individual narrative citation.