Henry James Knight

Held his position to cover withdrawal and carried casualties

Henry James Knight was born James Huntley Knight at Yeovil, Somerset, on 5 November 1878. He attended school at Poole and spent time at the boys' reformatory at Milborne St Andrew. In February 1893 he joined the King's Regiment as a boy soldier, serving first in Canada, then the West Indies, and eventually South Africa.

With the 1st Battalion he experienced the opening campaigns of the Boer War, including the siege of Ladysmith. He was a corporal serving with mounted infantry when his conduct near Van Wyk's Vlei on 21 August 1900 brought the Victoria Cross.

Knight's party of four men occupied rocks covering the rear of Captain Ewart's detachment. About fifty opponents attacked and nearly surrounded them at close range. Knight directed his men to retire individually to better cover while maintaining the defence. He held his position for almost an hour, allowing the larger detachment to withdraw. Two of his men were lost. When he finally retired, he brought two wounded men with him, leaving one in safety and carrying the other for nearly two miles.

Lord Kitchener presented his Victoria Cross at Pretoria in June 1902. Knight returned to Britain as a sergeant, served with a militia battalion, and married Carrie Ellen Smith in 1903. Further service in India followed before he left the Army in 1912.

He reenlisted in 1914, obtained a temporary commission, and briefly held captain's rank before relinquishing it. He then enlisted in the London Scottish as a private and became a corporal. Wounded at Gommecourt during the Somme fighting in 1916, he was medically discharged in March 1917. During the Second World War he worked as caretaker at Milborne Milk Factory. He died at Winterborne Anderson, Dorset, on 24 November 1955, aged seventy-seven.

Official Victoria Cross citation On the 21st August, during the operations near Van Wyk's Vlei, Corporal Knight was posted in some rocks with four men covering the right rear of a detachment of the same Company who, under Captain Ewart, were holding the right of the line. The enemy, about 50 strong, attacked Captain Ewart's right and almost surrounded, at short range, Corporal Knight's small party. That Non-Commissioned Officer held his ground, directing his party to retire one by one to better cover, where he maintained his position for nearly an hour, covering the withdrawal of Captain Ewart's force, and losing two of his four men. He then retired, bringing with him two wounded men. One of these he left in a place of safety, the other he carried himself for nearly two miles. The party were hotly engaged during the whole time.