John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker

John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, born in London on 10 July 1886, inherited the Irish viscountcy of Gort in August 1902 while a schoolboy at Harrow. Entering the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in January 1904, he received his commission into the Grenadier Guards on 16 August 1905. His officer personal service number is not yet verified in contemporary published army documentation. His early regimental career combined peacetime duty with court service, and in May 1910 he commanded the Grenadier Guards detachment bearing the catafalque at the funeral of King Edward VII, for which he was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order, 4th Class (MVO).

The outbreak of the First World War placed Captain Viscount Gort in the forefront of the fighting in France. Deploying in August 1914 with the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, 4th (Guards) Brigade, he saw combat during the retreat from Mons, the counterstroke on the Marne, the fighting on the Aisne, and the First Battle of Ypres. Serving as Brigade Major during the operations at Festubert in May 1915, he earned the Military Cross, gazetted in the King’s Birthday Honours of June 1915. After receiving a brevet major in June 1916 and completing staff duties during the Somme offensive, he secured a return to regimental field command, taking charge of the 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards, as an acting lieutenant-colonel in April 1917. Two months later, he was appointed to the Distinguished Service Order. During the Battle of Passchendaele in September 1917, he won a First Bar to the DSO; though wounded in two places in the shoulder by shellfire, he refused medical attention, remaining in command of his battalion through the night and into the following afternoon to supervise consolidation under relentless enemy bombardment.

A Second Bar to the DSO was awarded for his tactical skill during the approach to the Canal du Nord on the night of 11–12 September 1918. When an adjacent unit failed to secure its objective, he brought his battalion forward through darkness to relieve the sector, conducted personal reconnaissances under fire, captured the position before daybreak, and advanced his perimeter more than 700 yards across three days of probing actions. This award was formally gazetted on 31 January 1919.

His highest gallantry decoration was the Victoria Cross, won on 27 September 1918 while commanding the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, during the assault across the Canal du Nord near Flesquières. The full official citation, published in the Second Supplement to The London Gazette of Tuesday, 26 November 1918 (Issue 31034, 27 November 1918, page 14039), is reproduced verbatim:

"Capt. and Bt. Maj; (A./Lt. -Col.) John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, Vis- eount Gort, D.S.O., M.V.O , M.C., 1st Bn.. G. Gds.

For most conspicuous bravery, skilful leading and devotion to duty during the attack of the Guards Division on 27th September, 1918, across the Canal Du Nord, near Flesquières, when in command of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, the leading battalion of the 3rd Guards Brigade. Under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire, he led his battalion with great skill and determination to the “forming-up” ground, where very severe fire from artillery and machine guns was again encountered. Although wounded, he quickly grasped the situation, directed a platoon to proceed down a sunken road to make a flanking attack, and, under terrific fire, went across open ground to obtain the assistance of a Tank, which he personally led and directed to the best possible advantage. While thus fearlessly exposing himself, he was again severely wounded by a shell. Notwithstanding considerable loss of blood, after lying on a stretcher for a while, he insisted on getting up and personally directing the further attack. By his magnificent example of devotion to duty and utter disregard of personal safety, all ranks were inspired to exert themselves to the utmost, and the attack resulted in the capture of over 200 prisoners, two batteries of field guns and numerous machine guns. Lt.-Col. Viscount Gort then proceeded to organise the defence of the captured position until he collapsed; even then he refused to leave the field until he had seen the “success signal” go up on the final objective. The successful advance of the battalion was mainly due to the valour, devotion and leadership of this very gallant officer."

King George V invested Viscount Gort with the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace on 13 December 1918. He finished the war having been mentioned in despatches eight times, and on 21 July 1919 the French Republic conferred upon him the Croix de Guerre with Bronze Palm.

In the interwar era, he passed through the Staff College at Camberley, served as a general staff officer with the Shanghai Defence Force in 1927, and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Military Division, in 1928. Promoted to colonel in 1926 and major-general in November 1935, he served as Commandant of the Staff College and Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War. Promoted to general on 6 December 1937, he was appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1937 and Knight Commander (KCB) in 1938. In January 1940, while commanding the British Expeditionary Force in France, he was invested with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour by General Maurice Gamelin. In May 1940, faced with the collapse of the French flanks, Gort made the operational choice to halt southern counter-attacks and fall back on Dunkirk, a decision that enabled the evacuation of over 338,000 Allied soldiers in Operation Dynamo. He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) and mentioned in despatches.

Subsequent postings utilised his leadership in besieged Mediterranean strongholds. Appointed Governor of Gibraltar in May 1941, he oversaw defensive engineering before transferring in May 1942 to become Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta. He conveyed the George Cross awarded to the island fortress, and on 13 September 1942, he formally presented the George Cross at Palace Square, Valletta. He sustained the island through the climax of the Axis air offensive and directed the expansion of the Luqa runways. Promoted to field marshal in June 1943, he witnessed the Italian naval surrender at Valletta in September. His final appointment, as High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan in 1944, was cut short by failing health in late 1945. He was created a Viscount in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in February 1946 and died in London on 31 March 1946, aged fifty-nine.