William George Nicholas Manley

Commissioned into the Army Medical Department in March 1854 as an assistant surgeon to the 79th Regiment of Foot before transferring to the Royal Artillery, William George Nicholas Manley served as a medical officer in an era prior to the introduction of individual service numbers for British officers. Born in Dublin on 17 December 1831, the son of the Reverend William Nicholas Manley, he qualified as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England at Charing Cross Hospital in 1852. His initial experience of field surgery came during the Crimean War, where he joined the Royal Artillery siege train before Sebastopol in 1855, serving amidst the artillery barrages and trench fighting until the fortress fell, an arduous deployment recognised with the Crimea Medal with clasp for Sebastopol and the Turkish Crimea Medal.

Transferred to the southern hemisphere during the New Zealand Wars, Manley found himself attached to the field force under Lieutenant-General Sir Duncan Cameron confronting the Tauranga Māori. On 29 April 1864, British naval and military columns mounted an assault against the heavily fortified earthwork redoubt at Pukehinahina, known as the Gate Pā. When the breach was carried, fierce close-quarters fire from concealed Māori rifle pits inflicted severe casualties upon the storming party, mortally wounding Commander Edward Hay of the Royal Navy. Learning that officers had fallen inside the defences, Manley stepped forward without hesitation, advancing directly into the breach under sustained fire to reach Commander Hay. He tended the naval officer until he expired and remained within the exposed redoubt to treat other wounded soldiers, withdrawing only when the assault party was compelled to retire, the final artilleryman to quit the position.

His conduct was gazetted in The London Gazette on 23 September 1864 with the following official citation:

"For his conduct during the assault on the Rebel Pah, near Tauranga, New Zealand, on the 29th of April last, in most nobly risking his own life, to save that of the late Commander Hay, of the Royal Navy, and others. Having volunteered to accompany the storming party into the Pah, he attended on that Officer until he died, and then volunteered to supplied the first wants of other wounded. He was the last Man of the Artillery to leave the Pah."

Battlefield gallantry formed only part of his operational record in the colony. Having provided surgical care under fire at Te Ranga two months after Gate Pā, he was stationed near the Waitotara River on 21 July 1865 when a gunner of the Royal Artillery was swept into deep water; Manley plunged into the river to effect the rescue, an exploit recognised by the Royal Humane Society with its Bronze Medal. His overall operational service throughout the campaign was acknowledged with the New Zealand Medal.

When the Franco-Prussian War erupted in 1870, Manley secured secondment to direct the "B" Division of the British Ambulance corps, organised by the National Society for Aid to Sick and Wounded in War. Attached to the 22nd Infantry Division of the Prussian forces, he spent months operating forward dressing stations under artillery bombardments at Châteaudun, Coulmiers, Artenay, Patay, and the siege lines enclosing Paris. His impartiality and determination to treat French and German casualties alike prompted the Crown Prince of Prussia to recommend him for the Prussian Iron Cross, Second Class, formally conferred by King Wilhelm I on the white ribbon with black borders designated for non-combatant service. The Kingdom of Bavaria made him a Knight of the Military Merit Order, the French authorities conferred the bronze cross of the Société Française de Secours aux Blessés Militaires, and he was awarded the German War Commemorative Medal 1870–1871.

Promoted to surgeon-major, he deployed to Southern Afghanistan during the Second Anglo-Afghan War between 1878 and 1879, serving as Principal Medical Officer of the 2nd Division of the Quetta Field Force under Major-General Sir Michael Biddulph during the march to Kandahar and the Helmand River, receiving mentions in despatches and the Afghanistan Medal. Assigned as Principal Medical Officer of the 2nd Infantry Division under Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Hamley during the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882, he accompanied the dawn assault at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir. For his services in Egypt he was mentioned in despatches, appointed a Companion of the Military Division of the Order of the Bath, granted the Third Class of the Ottoman Order of Osmanieh, and awarded the Egypt Medal with clasp for Tel-el-Kebir alongside the Khedive’s Bronze Star.

Admitted as a Knight of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem and appointed an Honorary Surgeon to Queen Victoria in 1894, he had retired from active service in 1884 with the honorary rank of Surgeon-General. He died at his residence in Lansdown, Cheltenham, on 16 November 1901.