Charles FitzClarence Brigadier General Charles FitzClarence VC ( 8 May 1865 – 12 November 1914 ) was an Irish 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 . Early life . Charles FitzClarence was born in County Kildare , the son of Captain George FitzClarence ( 15 April 1836 – 24 March 1894 ) and Maria Henrietta Scott ( d . 27 July 1912 ) . He had a twin brother named Edward . His paternal grandfather was George Augustus Frederick FitzClarence , 1st Earl of Munster , an illegitimate son of William , Duke of Clarence ( later King William IV of the United Kingdom ) . He served in the Sudan during the Mahdist War . The VC action . FitzClarence was 34 years old , and a captain in The Royal Fusiliers , British Army during the Second Boer War when the following deeds took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross : He was transferred to the Irish Guards on that regiment ' s formation in October 1900 . He became a Major in May 1904 and succeeded to the command of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards in July 1909 . He later achieved the rank of Brigadier General . The Great War . On 27 September 1914 he took command of the 1st Guards ' Brigade with the British Expeditionary Force , and he held this command until his death on 11 November of that year . He was killed in action leading the 1st Guards ' Brigade against the Prussian Guard . In October , FitzClarence had played a significant part in the battle for Ypres . Captain Valentine Williams , MC , writing in Blackwood ' s Magazine , described the action at Gheluvelt thus : " The Coldstream and Scots Guards ' battalions of Fitzclarence ' s brigade , in trenches north of Gheluvelt , suffered terribly in a German attack , delivered in a dense mist on the morning of the 27th along the Menin road . The odds against the British were crushing , for on that day some 24 , 000 Germans were arrayed against about 5 , 000 exhausted British troops . In two days the Scots Guards lost 10 officers and 370 men killed and wounded . But the result of the day ' s fighting was that the British line stood firm and unbroken , while the Germans had sustained enormous losses " . Sir John French , in his Despatch published on 30 November 1914 , described the fighting at this time as : " Perhaps the most important and decisive attack ( except that of the Prussian Guard on the 10th November ) made against the 1st Corps during the whole of its arduous experiences in the neighbourhood of Ypres . " ' Blackwood ' s Magazine ' for August , 1917 , carries an article describing FitzClarence ' s part . It was he who gave the order for the vital counter - attack of 31 October 1914 . He " rallied the troops and directed the successful onslaught " . Lt Col . E B Hankey , involved in the attack , said of FitzClarence : " . . . by shoving us in at the time and place he did , the General saved the day . " On the morning of 11 November the Prussian Guard attacked British troops along the Menin Road . Thirteen battalions of them came on , but only in three places did the Prussian Guard break through . On the following morning Fitzclarence counter - attacked . The General himself decided to show his old regiment the way , and paid for the decision with his life . Fitzclarence fell dead , and neither Fitzclarence himself , nor Sir John French knew how well he had served his country at Gheluvelt . In his Despatch of 20 November 1914 , Sir John French said : " Another officer whose name was particularly mentioned to me was Brigadier - General Fitzclarence , VC , commanding the 1st Guards ' Brigade . He was unfortunately killed in the night attack of the 11th November . His loss will be severely felt " . He was killed in action , aged 49 , at Polygon Wood , Zonnebeke , Belgium , on 12 November 1914 whilst commanding the 1st Guards Brigade . He is the highest - ranking officer inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres , commemorating those with no known grave . The Medal . His VC is in the Lord Ashcroft VC Gallery in the Imperial War Museum , London . Family . On 20 April 1898 , at the Ciddidal Church , Cairo , he married Violet Spencer - Churchill ( 13 June 1864 – 22 December 1941 ) , daughter of Lord Alfred Spencer - Churchill and a granddaughter of the sixth Duke of Marlborough , on 20 April 1898 . The couple had two children : References . Listed in order of publication year