Sir Tasker Watkins

Few men have left their mark on Wales in as many different worlds as Major Sir Tasker Watkins VC, GBE . On a battlefield in Normandy he displayed extraordinary courage under overwhelming fire. In civilian life he rose to one of the highest positions in the British judiciary. Later, as President of the Welsh Rugby Union, he helped guide Welsh rugby through one of the greatest transformations in its history. Yet the achievement for which Tasker Watkins is most remembered came during a few desperate hours on 16 August 1944, when almost every officer around him had become a casualty and the survival of his men depended on what he did next.

Tasker Watkins was born on 18 November 1918 at Nelson, Glamorgan , the son of Bertram Watkins, an engine fitter who later became a government employee, and Jane Watkins, née Phillips. He won a scholarship to Pontypridd Grammar School, but his education was interrupted when his family moved from the South Wales valleys to England in search of work. In Dagenham he continued his education through night classes and private study while working in London. That determination to advance through his own efforts would remain a defining feature of his life.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Watkins enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry on 16 October 1939 . After basic training he was selected for officer training and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Welch Regiment on 17 May 1941 , service number 187088. In August 1943 he became an instructor at the Advanced Handling and Fieldcraft School near Llanberis. After the Normandy landings he was sent to the fighting front, joining the 1/5th Battalion, Welch Regiment , part of the 53rd (Welsh) Division, on 25 July 1944.

Less than a month later came the action that would make his name part of Victoria Cross history. On 16 August 1944 , during the fighting around the Falaise Pocket, Watkins was commanding a company ordered to attack objectives near the railway at Bafour, Normandy . His men had to cross exposed cornfields that had been booby-trapped. Before darkness had fallen they were struck by intense machine-gun fire and fire from an 88 mm gun. Casualties mounted rapidly, and Watkins became the only officer left with the company. The original London Gazette citation records that he placed himself at the head of his men and charged two enemy positions at short range, personally killing or wounding their occupants with his Sten gun.

Reaching the objective did not end the fight. Watkins encountered a German soldier manning an anti-tank gun. His Sten gun jammed at the critical moment, so he threw the weapon into the German's face and shot him with his pistol. His company had by then been reduced to roughly thirty men when about fifty German infantry counter-attacked. Watkins controlled his men's fire and then led them forward in a bayonet charge, an assault that the official citation described as resulting in the near destruction of the enemy force.

The danger became even greater as darkness fell. Unknown to Watkins, the battalion had been ordered to withdraw, but his company's wireless had been destroyed and the order never reached him. Surrounded and cut off, he attempted to lead the survivors back toward British lines. When another enemy post challenged them at close range in the cornfields, Watkins ordered his men to scatter and attacked the position himself with a Bren gun, silencing it before leading the remnants of the company back to battalion headquarters. Twenty-seven men returned with him. The official citation concluded that his "superb gallantry and total disregard for his own safety" had saved the lives of his men and decisively influenced the battle.

For this action, Lieutenant Tasker Watkins was awarded the Victoria Cross , Britain's highest decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy. The award appeared in the Supplement to *The London Gazette* dated 2 November 1944 , where he was identified as Lieutenant Tasker Watkins, service number 187088, of the Welch Regiment. King George VI personally invested him with the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace on 8 March 1945 . Watkins later spoke with remarkable modesty about the battle, refusing to portray himself as exceptional and consistently directing attention toward the soldiers who had fought beside him.

Watkins continued fighting as the 53rd (Welsh) Division advanced through France, Belgium and into the Netherlands. He was promoted captain and appointed acting major on 22 September 1944 . During the bitter battle to liberate 's-Hertogenbosch in October 1944 , he was seriously wounded by mortar bomb fragments. His wounds were severe enough that doctors considered amputating a leg, but it was saved. No longer fit for front-line service, he was given a training appointment and was eventually released from active military service on 28 May 1945 with the honorary rank of Major .

War had given Watkins a Victoria Cross, but his second career would be built in the law. While recuperating in 1945 he applied for admission to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. He passed his Bar examinations and was called to the Bar on 9 June 1948 . His reputation as an advocate grew rapidly. He became Queen's Counsel in 1965 and played an important role as counsel to the tribunal investigating the Aberfan disaster, a tragedy that struck only a few miles from his birthplace. In 1971 he was appointed a High Court judge and received the customary Knighthood as a Knight Bachelor .

His judicial career continued to rise. Watkins joined the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council in 1980 , became the first Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales in 1983, and in 1988 was appointed the first Deputy Chief Justice of England and Wales . His public service was recognised in the 1990 New Year Honours , when he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire, GBE . The official Gazette records him as "The Right Honourable Sir Tasker Watkins, V.C., P.C., Deputy Chief Justice" and specifically appoints him an Ordinary Knight Grand Cross of the Civil Division.

Watkins's honours reflected more than his wartime courage and judicial career. In 1998 he was appointed a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem . The official Gazette records him simply under the grade "As Knight", which is the most historically secure description of his appointment. His recorded ribbon and medal entitlement also included the 1939-45 Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45, Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal and Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal , alongside his Victoria Cross, GBE, Knight Bachelor distinction and Order of St John membership.

Retirement from the judiciary in 1993 opened another major chapter in his public life. Watkins became President of the Welsh Rugby Union , serving until 2004. His eleven years in office covered the turbulent transition of rugby union from amateurism to professionalism and major changes in the administration and structure of the Welsh game. Although personally attached to the traditions of amateur rugby, he recognised that change was inevitable and played an important role in guiding Welsh rugby through it. His influence extended beyond administration. Wales coach Graham Henry famously displayed Watkins's Victoria Cross citation in the national team's changing room as an example of courage and leadership.

Sir Tasker Watkins died at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff on 9 September 2007 , aged 88. On the same day, Wales were playing Canada at the Rugby World Cup in France, and the Welsh team wore black armbands in his memory. His funeral was held at Llandaff Cathedral, while later memorial services were held simultaneously in Cardiff and in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Dutch city where he had been wounded more than six decades earlier.

His legacy remains visible in the heart of Cardiff. On 15 November 2009 , a nine-foot bronze statue of Sir Tasker Watkins was unveiled outside the Millennium Stadium, today's Principality Stadium, by his daughter Lady Mair Griffith-Williams. It stands near the home of Welsh rugby as a memorial to a man whose life connected the battlefield, the courtroom and the national game.

Tasker Watkins was more than a Victoria Cross recipient. He was a soldier who brought twenty-seven men back from an apparently hopeless battlefield, a lawyer who rose to the highest levels of British justice, and a Welsh rugby leader who helped steer the sport into a new era. His Victoria Cross citation captured the courage of one extraordinary night in Normandy, but his life after the war demonstrated something equally powerful: the ability to turn survival into a lifetime of public service.