George Ravenhill

He returned through fierce fire to help bring the guns away.

George Albert Ravenhill was born in Birmingham in 1872 and joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers as a young man. He served in India before going to South Africa with the 2nd Battalion. At Colenso on 15 December 1899, British artillery batteries became trapped under intense Boer fire.

Ravenhill repeatedly went forward from the shelter of the infantry position to help the gun teams. He assisted attempts to limber up and withdraw the exposed guns despite close rifle fire, receiving a shoulder wound. The action brought him the Victoria Cross. During the subsequent campaign he was also taken prisoner and was released when British troops occupied Pretoria in June 1900.

After leaving regular service, Ravenhill struggled to support his family. Poverty, illness and periods in workhouses marked his civilian years. In 1908 he was convicted of theft and imprisoned for a month. His Victoria Cross was then forfeited under the regulations of the time. The punishment compounded the hardships facing his wife and children; some of the children later went to Canada.

Ravenhill returned to Army service during the First World War, enlisting at Chipping Norton. His later service included the Salonika theatre and ended with a medical discharge. His health remained poor after the war. He died in Birmingham on 14 April 1921 and received a funeral with military honours at Witton Cemetery. Although the historic forfeiture remained a distinct administrative event, he continues to be included in official lists of Victoria Cross recipients.

Official Victoria Cross citation

At Colenso, on the 15th December, 1899, Private Ravenhill went several times, under a heavy fire, from his sheltered position as one of the escort to the guns, to assist the officers and drivers who were trying to withdraw the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, when the detachments serving them had all been killed, wounded, or driven from them by infantry fire at close range, and helped to limber up one of the guns that were saved.

The London Gazette of 4 June 1901, Numb. 27320, p. 3769