John Sherwood - Kelly John ( " Jack " ) Sherwood Kelly VC CMG DSO ( 13 January 1880 – 18 August 1931 ) was a South African recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . The four - times - wounded Kelly was not a Regular officer but a formidable and experienced commander with a combat record going back to the 1896 Matabele Revolt . During his military career he achieved fame and notoriety for his mixture of heroic exploits and explosive temperament . He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his exploits in Gallipoli in February 1916 and on 1 January 1917 was awarded the Companion of St Michael and St George ( CMG ) . During the summer and autumn of 1917 he commanded 1st Battalion , the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was instrumental in the early success achieved during the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November for which he received the Victoria Cross from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 23 January 1918 . Kelly was gassed and wounded at various times . Early life . His mother died when he was 12 and his twin brother was killed falling from a horse when he was 13 . His father subsequently married their governess giving him three half - siblings . He was educated in Grahamstown ( Saint Andrew ' s and Saint Aidan ' s , King Williamstown ( Dale College ) and Queens [ Queenstown ] . At 16 he fought in Matebeleland . He joined the Cape Mounted Police and was at the Relief of Mafeking , South Africa . He joined the Somaliland Burgher Corps fighting the " Mad Mullah " in Somaliland . In 1906 he took part in the Zulu Rebellion He married Nellie and prior to the outbreak of the First World War , he was housemaster at Langley School and a member of the Territorial Army . First World War . Gallipoli campaign . In Gallipoli , he commanded a regular army Scottish battalion . Western Front . He was 37 years old , and an Acting Lieutenant - Colonel in the Norfolk Regiment , British Army , Commanding Officer 1st Battalion , Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC . On 20 November 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai at Marcoing , France , when a party of men were held upon the near side of a canal by heavy rifle fire , Lieutenant Colonel Sherwood Kelly at once ordered covering fire , personally led his leading company across the canal and then reconnoitered , under heavy fire , the high ground held by the enemy . He took a Lewis gun team , forced his way through obstacles and covered the advance of his battalion , enabling them to capture the position . Later he led a charge against some pits from which heavy fire was coming , capturing five machine - guns and 46 prisoners . North Russia . According to Field Marshal Lord Ironside ' s account published in 1953 , the second battalion of the Hampshire Regiment on 19 June 1919 under Kelly ' s command as part of the North Russia Campaign " failed to take any part in the fight " at Troitsa , a village encampment on the River Dvina and about 180 miles south - east from Archangel as the crow flies . When Ironside interviewed Kelly the following day , Kelly could not explain the 2nd Hampshires ' failure to take part in the action ; had Kelly been a Regular officer , explained Ironside , he would " certainly have had him court martialled . " In view of Kelly ' s outstanding war record , Ironside merely withdrew the 2nd Hampshires from the line and directed that Kelly be sent home for demobilisation . According to the Brigade Operation Report , however , Kelly ' s column at Troitsa was successful at first but then withdrew as he considered the position insecure and was having difficulty obtaining ammunition supplies ; when ordered to resume the attack , Kelly declined to do so . According to Kelly ' s account given shortly after to his brigadier , a series of factors accounted for his withdrawal : slow and difficult approach through marshy woods , lack of information about the progress of other columns , stiff resistance by the enemy Bolsheviks , the danger of encirclement and lack of ammunition . In the event , Kelly was not relieved of his command and sent home as Ironside ( in his own words ) had " decided to give him a second chance . " Kelly was not dismissed until 17 August 1919 and then for quite different reasons than the Troista affair . In mid - April 1919 , Sir Keith Price , a head of production at the Ministry of Munitions , wrote to the War Office urging the use of new variants of gas against the Bolsheviks in the North Russian theatre . Winston Churchill , then Secretary of State for War and Air , was enthusiastic in his support but was concerned at revealing the new gas in the course of a relatively small campaign . Churchill ' s concerns having been addressed , massive preparations for the use of the new gas were undertaken . As a trial of the new weapon Kelly , who was now in command of a very mixed outfit on the railway front as part of the Vologda Force , was ordered to carry out a raid on the Bolsheviks under cover of a large ground discharge of gas . Kelly objected less against the gas as against the raid itself whose purposes in his view could be achieved by other methods . The gas raid , due on 17 August 1919 , never took place . Kelly was then replaced as commanding officer of his unit and sent back to Britain ; the formal reason for his removal was that he had " remarked adversely on matters of military import " , criticised his superiors and divulged military secrets in a letter to a friend in England ; the contents of the letter constituted a court martial offence . On his arrival back in Britain , Kelly wrote a series of letters to the " Daily Express " and " Sunday Express " , both published by Lord Beaverbrook and both opposed to the North Russia Campaign . The first letter appeared on 6 September 1919 in the " Daily Express " . Urgent consultations within government as to a possible court martial for Kelly followed the publication . " A court martial would be an unusual disciplinary procedure for an officer , rare for one of Kelly ' s rank , unprecedented for one so well decorated , four times wounded ( twice gassed ) and nine times mentioned in despatches . " Initially the Adjutant General advised against a court martial , suggesting instead that Kelly be removed from the army administratively for misconduct as permitted by an article of the Pay Warrant . However , after the publication by Beaverbrook of a second Kelly letter Churchill favoured Kelly ' s swift court martial for writing to the newspapers but without reference to anything which had happened or was alleged to have happened in Russia . Kelly was arrested on 13 October 1919 ; his court martial took place on 28 October 1919 in Westminster Guildhall on the charge of having written three letters to the press on 5 September , 12 September and 6 October 1919 after his return from Russia . Kelly pleaded guilty to contravention of the King ' s Regulations which provided that an officer was , " forbidden to publish in any form whatsoever or communicate , either directly or indirectly , to the Press any military information or his views on any military subject without special authority . " Kelly presented a plea in mitigation and various documents to support his case . He concluded , " I plead with you to believe that the action I took was to protect my men ' s lives against needless sacrifice and to save the country from squandering wealth it could ill afford . " He was found guilty and severely reprimanded . Two weeks later he relinquished his commission , being allowed to retain the rank of lieutenant colonel . Pursued by a neglected wife and various creditors , he was unsuccessful in his many attempts to re - enter the army and even failed to obtain a place in the French Foreign Legion . Politics . During the political instability of 1923 - 24 , Jack Kelly stood for the Conservative Party at two general elections for the constituency of Clay Cross in Derbyshire . His controversial and outspoken style struck a chord even among hardened socialist supporters in this largely mining seat . He was defeated in the December 1923 elections by 6 , 000 votes but had reduced this by half a year later in the election of October 1924 . During the election rallies , Kelly again hit the national headlines having thrashed some hecklers at Langwith . Later work . In later years , Kelly worked for Bolivia Concessions Limited building roads and railways across Bolivia and went big game hunting in Africa where he contracted malaria . He was granted a full military funeral and buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey , England . The Medal . His Victoria Cross is displayed at the National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg .