THE VICTORIA CROSS AWARDED TO CAPTAIN HAROLD ACKROYD, ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS, ATT'D ROYAL BERKSHIRE REGIMENT, HAS BEEN SOLD PRIVATELY.
1 April 2004


( select to enlarge )		 Medal entitlement of Captain Harold Ackroyd,
Royal Army Medical Corps

  • Victoria Cross
  • Military Cross ( MC )
  • 1914 - 15 Star
  • British War Medal ( 1914-20 )
  • Victory Medal ( 1914-19 )

It has recently been revealed that the Victoria Cross awarded to Captain Harold Ackroyd, Royal Army Medical Corps, has been sold privately to the Michael Ashcroft Trust, the holding institution for Lord Ashcroft's VC Collection. The results of the sale have been donated to Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, to fund four annual medical scholarships for undergraduates and an annual lecture by a medical professor.

For the award of the Victoria Cross.

[ London Gazette, 6 September 1917 ], Ypres, Belgium, 31 July to 1 August 1917, Captain Harold Ackroyd, MD, Royal Army Medical Corps.

"Captain Ackroyd worked continuously, utterly regardless of danger, saving lives and tending to the wounded men in the front line under heavy fire. Having carried one wounded officer to safety on his back he returned to bring in another under sniper fire. His heroism was the means of saving many lives, and provided a magnificent example of courage, cheefulness and determination to the fighting men in whose midst he was carrying out his splendid work."

For the award of the Military Cross.

[ London Gazette, 20 October 1916 ], Temporary Captain Harold Ackroyd, MD, Royal Army Medical Corps.

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during operations. He attended the wounded under heavy fire, and finally, when he had seen that all our wounded from behind the line had got in, he went out beyond the front line and brought in both our own and enemy wounded, although continually sniped at."

After being shot by a sniper on the 11th August 1917 Harold Ackroyd's body was brought out and buried behind the lines. His headstone in Birr Crossroads Cemetery, Zillebeke, carries the inscription: 'Believed to be buried in this cemetery.'

Acquisitions

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Iain Stewart, 1 April 2004