John Harold Rhodes

John Harold Rhodes was born at Mellor Street, Packmoor, Staffordshire, on 17 May 1891, one of the children of Ernest and Sarah Rhodes. His father had served as a soldier before becoming a miner, and John followed him into the coal industry after attending school at Newchapel. He worked at Chatterley Whitfield Colliery before enlisting in the Grenadier Guards on 17 February 1911. After training at the Guards Depot at Caterham, he served with the 3rd Battalion and transferred to the Army Reserve in February 1914. Victoria Cross Online⁠

Recalled when war began, Rhodes was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, and landed in France on 13 August 1914. He served during the retreat from Mons and the opening battles of the war, qualifying for the 1914 Star and its clasp. He was promoted to lance corporal in January 1915.

At Rue du Bois on 18 May 1915, Rhodes conducted a patrol well forward of the British position and returned with valuable information. He then twice volunteered to help bring wounded soldiers in under heavy fire. His courage earned him the Distinguished Conduct Medal. At Givenchy on 6 August 1915, after mine explosions destroyed sap heads and part of the front-line trench, Rhodes and Private Barton went forward and continued digging trapped and wounded men out of the wreckage until they were themselves wounded. Rhodes received a Bar to his DCM, representing a second award of the decoration. Victoria Cross Online⁠

Evacuated to Britain with a wound to his right shoulder, Rhodes spent several months recovering. He married Elizabeth “Lizzie” Meir on 11 December 1915. Their son, John, was born on 13 May 1917, but Rhodes had already returned to France and never saw him.

Rhodes rejoined the fighting in January 1917 and was serving as a lance sergeant with the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, during the Third Battle of Ypres. On 9 October 1917, during the Battle of Poelcappelle near Houthulst Forest, he was placed in charge of a Lewis-gun section supporting the consolidation of the battalion’s newly captured position. After engaging the enemy with both his rifle and Lewis gun, he saw enemy soldiers leave a pillbox. Rhodes advanced alone through British artillery fire and hostile machine-gun fire, entered the position and captured nine Germans. Among them was an artillery forward-observation officer connected by telephone to his battery. Rhodes brought the prisoners and valuable intelligence back to the British position. His Victoria Cross was announced in the London Gazette on 23 November 1917. The Gazette’s First World War VC index⁠

Only four days after the announcement, Rhodes was mortally wounded during the fighting around Fontaine-Notre-Dame. He died at No. 48 Casualty Clearing Station on 27 November 1917, aged 26. He is buried in Plot III, Row E, Grave 1 of Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery, Manancourt. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records his final rank as serjeant. CWGC account⁠

Rhodes’s Victoria Cross was presented to his widow at her home on 15 July 1918. His medal group is held by the Grenadier Guards at Regimental Headquarters, Wellington Barracks, London. He is remembered as one of the most highly decorated non-commissioned officers in the regiment’s history.

Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous bravery when in charge of a Lewis gun section covering the consolidation of the right front company. He accounted for several enemy with his rifle as well as by Lewis gun fire, and, upon seeing three enemy leave a “pill-box,” he went out single-handed through our own barrage and hostile machine-gun fire, and effected an entry into the “pill-box.” He there captured nine enemy, including a forward observation officer connected by telephone with his battery. These prisoners he brought back with him, together with valuable information.

London Gazette, Issue 30400, Supplement, 23 November 1917, page 12328. Official Gazette index⁠