Frederick Corbett

He tended a wounded officer under sustained enemy rifle fire

Frederick Corbett served in the British Army under an assumed name. The National Army Museum identifies him as David Embleton, born at Maldon, Essex, on 17 September 1853. He enlisted as Frederick Corbett in 1873 and served with the 3rd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps.

During the Egyptian campaign of 1882 his battalion took part in the fighting around Alexandria and Kafr Dowar. On 5 August, Lieutenant Howard Vyse was mortally wounded. Corbett remained beside him under sustained fire, attempting to stop his bleeding, before helping other men move the officer from the exposed position. The rescue involved considerable danger and was independent of any prospect of saving the officer through medical treatment. His conduct brought the Victoria Cross, gazetted on 16 February 1883. He also received the Egypt Medal with the Tel-el-Kebir clasp and the Khedive's Star for the campaign.

Corbett's subsequent service was troubled. In July 1884, after proceedings involving absence without leave and theft or embezzlement, his name was removed from the Victoria Cross register under the forfeiture provisions then in force. Further disciplinary offences followed, including theft and striking a superior. These events did not erase the actions for which he had originally been decorated, but they profoundly affected his military career.

He was medically discharged in January 1891. His later circumstances deteriorated, and he died in Maldon workhouse on 25 September 1912. The contrast between his battlefield rescue and his later poverty became central to the way he was remembered. His burial was eventually marked by a proper headstone, while his medals survived separately in a regimental collection.

Victoria Cross citation

During the reconnaissance upon, Kafr Dowar, Egypt, on 5 August 1882, the Mounted Infantry, with which Private Corbett was serving, came under a hot fire from the enemy and suffered some loss, including Lieutenant Howard Vyse, mortally wounded. This officer fell in the open, and there being then no time to move him, Private Corbett asked and obtained permission to remain by him, and though under a constant fire, he sat down and endeavoured to stop the bleeding of this officer's wounds, until the Mounted Infantry received orders to retire, when he rendered valuable assistance in carrying him off the field.