Frank Lester (VC)

Private Frank Lester VC

Frank Lester was born at Huyton, near Liverpool, on 18 February 1896, the younger son of John and Ellen Lester. He spent part of his childhood in Hoylake, where he attended the National School, joined the Boys’ Brigade and played the organ for the local Methodist congregation. After leaving school, he trained as a joiner before moving with his family to Millers Hay at Irby, where he worked alongside his father in the family market-gardening business. (St. Bart’s & St. Chad’s)

Lester enlisted in the South Lancashire Regiment in March 1916. His ability was quickly recognized, and he became a sergeant-instructor, training soldiers at Prees Heath and Kinmel Park. Determined to serve overseas, he transferred to the 10th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, in June 1917 and reverted to the rank of private. He arrived in France in December 1917. Wounded in March 1918, he recovered in England before returning to the Western Front in September. (Cheshire Roll)

On 12 October 1918, the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers took part in the difficult clearance of Neuvilly, near Le Cateau. The battalion encountered determined resistance from German machine-gun teams and snipers during fierce house-to-house fighting. Lester accompanied an officer and approximately seven men into a house, entering first through the rear door and shooting two German soldiers as they attempted to escape through the front. Moments later, falling masonry blocked the party’s original entrance, leaving the fire-swept street as their only way out. (The Gazette)

From the house, Lester saw that a German sniper was inflicting heavy casualties upon another British party trapped across the street. Although the road was covered at close range by machine-gun fire, Lester declared, “I’ll settle him,” and dashed into the open. He shot the sniper at close quarters but was mortally wounded at the same instant. The official citation concluded that Lester knew entering the street meant almost certain death, but sacrificed himself to save the soldiers opposite from being killed one by one. (The Gazette)

Frank Lester was twenty-two years old. His posthumous Victoria Cross was announced in the London Gazette in December 1918. King George V later presented the decoration to Lester’s parents at Buckingham Palace. His medal entitlement consisted of the Victoria Cross, British War Medal and Victory Medal. (The Gazette)

He is buried in Neuvilly Communal Cemetery Extension, France, in Row B, Grave 15. His elder brother Edwin, who had served with the Cheshire Regiment, had died the previous year. The Lester family therefore lost both of its sons during the First World War. (Cheshire Roll)

Frank Lester is remembered as a quiet young man who surrendered the relative safety of an instructional appointment to serve at the front. Less than one month before the Armistice, he deliberately exposed himself to certain danger so that other men might live.

“To save their lives he sacrificed his own.”