Description
Military Cross, British War and Victory Medal Pair, Lieut Henry Albert Gartside Neville, 10th West Yorkshire Regiment, Intelligence Officer, earned for gathering important information. Grandson of Actor Henry Neville.
Lt Neville, was a keen sportsman, playing Rugby Football for the Old Malvernians, as well as a champion at the Steeplechase, and similarly skilled in foot racing, coming from a popular family, his Grandfather being the famous Shakespearean Specialist Actor Thomas Henry Gartside Neville, Known as “Henry Neville”, possibly where his Grandson’s name originated from.
With war upcoming he was a member of the Oxford University Officer Training Corps whilst receiving his education at Brasenose College, Uni of Oxford.
He joined the Buffs in 1914, finally transferring to the 10th West Yorks Regiment to see some action in France.
He was a 2nd Lieut acting as his Battalion’s Intelligence Officer when he earned this Cross and was promoted to Lieut.
Later a Captain in 1918 when he received 2 wounds in action during the early days of the “German Spring Offensive”.
After the war he spent the 1920s and 1930s in the United States, around New York and Los Angeles.
Military Cross, privately engraved on reverse: “MONCHY Lieut H.A.G. Neville 10th Batt West Yorkshire Regt June 1917”
WW1 Pair officially impressed: “CAPT H.A.G. NEVILLE.”
Pair swing mounted on silk ribbons, MC mounted on original wearing pin and silk ribbon. Full entitlement of medals for WW1.
With detailed set of Officer’s service records.
Military Cross announced in the London Gazette:
“For Conspicuous Gallantry and devotion to duty when acting as Intelligence Officer, he displayed untiring energy and total disregard for personal safety. He went through heavily shelled areas and obtained information of up most value.”
The “Monchy” referenced by him was likely for the Battle of Monchy-le-Preux on 25th April 1917.
On 24th March 1918, he was a Captain in the 10th Bn West Yorks when he was very severely wounded in action, during the German Spring Offensive, launched on 21st March 1918, his application for a wound gratuity recalls:
1. I was wounded on March 24th 1918 near BARASTRE in the Right Leg by shell.
2. Wounded in my left testicle which was removed in a surgical operation on 1st April 1918.”
Captain & Adjutant Henry Albert Gartside Neville, was born on 2nd December 1892.
He received his education at Malvern College and Oxford, and was noted for his athletic prowess, he played Rugby Football for Malvern as well and was a champion in the Seniors Steeplechase and in 1911 won the One Mile Foot Race.
During his time at Oxford he was also initiated into the Apollo University Masonic Lodge.
In 1913, the Surrey Mirror reports he represented the Rugby Team the Old Malvernians against Reigate Priory FC in the Christmas Games for that year. “This should prove a most attractive game, as the Old Malvernians are one of the leading amateur sides in the country, and have won the Arthur Dunn Cup on several occasions, and have always taken a prominent part in the AFA Cup competition, and previously to the formation of the AFA.
When the war broke out, he was working in London as a Stock Broker, a recent graduate of Brasenose College, Oxford, he made no hesitation in signing up, as noted in the Forest Hill Examiner of 9th October 1914:
“Mr H.A.G. Neville, son of Mr A.G. Neville, The Knoll, Beckenham, who enlisted in the 5th Battalion, The Buffs, with 30 of his fellow undergraduates of Brasenose College, in training at Margate.”
The War Diary ending June 1917, recalls the regiment announcing the awards of Gallantry Medal to the battalion, 2nd Lieut H.A.G. Neville, being the only officer decorated with a Medal, earning the MC, with a DCM, a Croix de Guerre, 7 Military Medals, with 4 MIDs earned by the 10th West Yorks.
It then notes, on the 13th June, that he was “Authorised by the Divisional Commander to wear the appropriate badges of rank pending official notification in the London Gazette, ‘To be Temporary Lieutenant, 2/Lt H.A.G. Neville M.C.’ “
It seems that his bravery earning the MC as Intelligence Officer being only a 2nd Lieut warranted an immediate promotion to Lieut.
Life and his famous Grandfather, the Actor Thomas Henry Gartside Neville
Henry was born during 1892 in St Pancras London. Each Man in his family for generations carried the name of “Gartside”.
He was the son of Albert George Francis Gartside Neville (Born 1864) and Elizabeth Hannaford (nee Helmore)
His useful claim to fame was his famous Grandfather, Thomas Henry Gartside Neville
