Harry Christian

He returned to the crater and carried three buried men clear

Harry Christian was born at Pennington, near Ulverston, on 17 January 1892, the son of an ironstone miner. Educated at the National School in Ulverston, he worked on farms before joining the King’s Own Special Reserve in 1906. He entered regular service in 1910 and served in Jersey and India. His peacetime record included repeated disciplinary offences, but he remained an experienced infantryman when war came.

Returning from India in November 1914, he went to France with the 2nd Battalion in 1915. A head wound in April required hospital treatment. On 18 October, near Cuinchy, he was holding a crater ahead of the British trenches with a handful of men when a heavy German bombardment forced them back. Discovering that three comrades were missing, Christian returned alone. Although bombs continued exploding on the crater’s rim, he found the men, dug them out and carried each to safety. He then watched the incoming bombs and warned his comrades where to shelter.

The battalion subsequently moved through Egypt to Salonika. Christian contracted malaria, an illness that repeatedly interrupted his service. When George V presented his Victoria Cross at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, in September 1917, a recurrence left him too ill to walk to the ceremony unaided. He nevertheless returned to the eastern theatre and served in Macedonia and later Turkey.

He transferred to the Army Reserve in 1919 and married Ellen Simm the following year. They settled near Egremont in Cumberland, where he became landlord of the Park Head Inn and remained associated with it for about forty years. He died at West Cumberland Hospital on 2 September 1974 and was buried at Egremont. His surviving medal group entered the King’s Own regimental museum in Lancaster.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous bravery. He was holding a crater with five or six men in front of our trenches. The enemy commenced a very heavy bombardment of the position with heavy “minenwerfer” bombs, forcing a temporary withdrawal. When he found that three men were missing, Private Christian at once returned alone to the crater, and, although bombs were continually bursting actually on the edge of the crater, he found, dug out, and carried one by one into safety all three men, thereby undoubtedly saving their lives. Later he placed himself where he could see the bombs coming, and directed his comrades when and where to seek cover.

The London Gazette of 3 March 1916, Numb. 29496, p. 2349