George Arthur Boyd-Rochfort

He hurled a live bomb clear to save men working in a trench.

George Arthur Boyd-Rochfort was born in County Westmeath, Ireland, on 1 January 1880. He studied at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a horseman, landowner and High Sheriff of his county. A polo injury delayed his entry into the First World War, but he obtained a commission in the Scots Guards in 1915 and reached France that June.

On 3 August 1915, between Cambrin and La Bassée, a German trench-mortar bomb landed beside a working party. Instead of taking cover, Boyd-Rochfort warned the men, seized the bomb and threw it over the parapet, where it exploded. His quick action earned the Victoria Cross.

He returned to France and was wounded before serving in a base-depot appointment as acting captain. Demobilised in 1919, he bred successful racehorses at Middleton Park and held senior positions in Irish racing. He died following an operation in Dublin on 7 August 1940 and was buried at Castletown-Geoghegan.

Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous bravery in the trenches between Cambrin and La Bassee on 3rd August, 1915. At 2 a.m. a German trench mortar bomb landed on the side of the parapet of the communication trench in which he stood, close to a small working party of his Battalion. He might easily have stepped back a few yards round the corner into perfect safety, but, shouting to his men to look out, he rushed at the bomb, seized it and hurled it over the parapet, where it at once exploded. There is no doubt that this splendid combination of presence of mind and courage saved the lives of many of the working party.