John Bisdee

He put a wounded officer on his horse and carried him clear.

John Hutton Bisdee was born at Hutton Park, Tasmania, on 28 September 1869. Educated at the Hutchins School in Hobart, he worked on his father's farming estate before volunteering for the Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen in April 1900. His contingent sailed for South Africa that month.

On 1 September 1900 near Warmbad, a small mounted party came under sudden Boer fire. A wounded officer's horse bolted, leaving him unable to escape. Bisdee dismounted, lifted the officer onto his own horse and moved him away from the exposed ground, mounting behind him while firing continued. He was himself wounded during the action.

The Victoria Cross recognised his decision to surrender his own means of escape in order to save the officer. After returning to Tasmania to recover, he went back to South Africa in March 1901 as a commissioned officer with the second Tasmanian contingent. He returned to farming in 1902 and received his cross in Hobart from the governor, Sir Arthur Havelock.

Bisdee married Georgiana Hale in 1904. He remained active in the mounted militia, becoming a captain and then commanding the 26th Light Horse in Tasmania. He joined the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915 and served in Egypt, including the Senussi campaign, where he was wounded again. His later duties included provost appointments with the Australian forces and the Anzac Mounted Division. He became a lieutenant-colonel in 1918 and was mentioned in despatches.

After discharge in 1920 he returned to his Tasmanian farming interests. He remained on the reserve before retiring from military service in 1929. He died at Melton Mowbray on 14 January 1930 and was buried in St James's churchyard at Jericho.