The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

His father a major general of the army, won the Victoria Cross in the Boer war. At Colenso he and the son of Lord Rob erts were engaged in a desperate piece of workA Lieutenant Roberts was wounded and Lieutenant Congreve brought hln in. Roberts died and Congreve lived and was given the cross. It was also conferred, posthumously, upon Lieutenant Roberts
 Only seven weeks before he was killed, which was just after he had performed gallant deeds that won the V. C., the irarriage of Major, then Captains Con-
 greve, was a great social event in London. He married Pamela Maude, daughter of Cyril Maude. the actor. The
 bishop of London performed the cere- mony which was attended by most of the well known society people of Lon don.
 Major Congreve had previously won the
 distinguished service order and the mill itary cross, the two next highest decora-
 tlons The official announcement gives these reasons for the award:
 For most conspicuous bravery during period of IA days preceding his death in action. This officer constantly per formed acts of gallantry and showed the greatest devotion to duty and by his per sonal example inspired all those around
 him with confidence at critical periods VI SAiS OPOldllOllS DuI1IlB preliminary preparations for the attack he carried out personal reconnaissances of the en- emy mes, taking out parties of officers ana noncommissioned officers for over
 .0O yards in front of our line ill order to acquaint them with the ground. All these preparations were made under fire
 Later, by night Major Congreve con- oucted battalion to it's position of em- ployment, afterwards returning to it t, 1 9grGrfain hn eft established himself in an exposed for. ward position, from whence he success lully observed the enemy and gave or ders necessary to drive them from their position.
 TWO days later, when brigade head | quarters was heavily shelled and many casualties resulted. he went out and assisted the medical officers to re. move the wounded to places of safety. | although he was himself suffering se- | verely from gas and other shell ef- l rects. He again on a subsequent oc- | casion, showed supreme courage in 1 tending wounded under heavy shell | Tire. He finally returned to the front
 line to ascertain the situation after an l unsuccessful attack, and whilst in the i act of writing his report, was shot
 and killed instantly
 l Most amazing of all the wonderful
 deeds, perhaps, was that of private. l He was Thomas Alfred Jones of the l Cheshire regiment. With half of his company he was engaged in consoIi- dating the British defenses in from
 or certain village Noticing a | sniper 200 yards off, he went after
 him. He got a bullet through his | steel helmet and another through his l coat, but he was undeterred He kept 1 up fire on the sniper and finally l Killed him. He then saw two more or the enemy firing on him, although. l says the official communioue they 1 were displaying the white flag at the ! time. Private Jones had been warned
 CT the misuse of the white flag so he paid no attention to it, but kept after | the snipers. He shot them both. This | would seem to be a days work, but
 not for Private Jones. He advanced | to the enemy's trenches and there l found several dugouts which were oc- ] cupied. Single handed, he disarmed 102 of the enemy, including several of- ficers. Then he marched his prisoners
 back to the British lines, passing through heavy barrage.
 | Capt. w. eBarnsley Allen of the Royal Army medical corps, is another | hero of the list. At a certain point. | gun detachments were unloading high | explosive ammunition from wagons | that had just come up. The enemy suddenly began to shell the position | of the battery. The first shell fell
 on Timber and exploded the ammu- milton it contained. Several men were wounded Captain Allen saw what had | happened. Without moments hesi- l ation he ran straight across the | open, most dangerous thing to do during the heavy shelling, and com
 menced dressing the wounded He
 undoubtedly saved many of them from a fA Anf1 1 IL l hour he was four times hit by frag- ments of shells, one of which frac- l tured two of his ribs. He did not even mention this at the time and went coolly on with his work until the very last man had his wounds dressed and removed to a place of safety. Captain Allen then went to
 another battery and dressed the wounds of an officer It was only after this was done that he returned to his dugout and reported jlis own injury. Another medical officer to get the Victoria Cross was Capt. Noel God frey Chavasse. son of the bishop of
 Liverpool, and a great athlete. He was a sprinter and quarter-miler and ran
 for Oxford in 1907 and 1908. During an attack on the Somme he went into the open to lNolS after the wounded and was frequently in full view of the enemy. During the night ensuing he searched the ground in front of the enemy trenches. He rescued three men ing wounded holders. On the follow ing day he took a stretcher bearer to the advanced trenches and under heavy shell fire carried an urgent case 500 yards into safety. He was wounded in the side while doing so Despite the wound he that night took a party of 20 men, all volunteers. to shell hole within 25 yards of the enemy trenche. He rescued three men who were wounded, buried the bodies of two officers and collected many identity discs. All the while he was fired on by bombs and machine guns Altogether. he saved the lives of some 20 badly wounded men. besides hand ling many other ordinary cases and. according to the usually restrained war office. his courage and self-sacrifiee were beyond praise"
 Another exploit which brought the Victoria Cross was that of Sergeant David Jones of the Liverpool regiment Sergeant went with the platoon to which he belonged to an advanced