Lieutenant (later Colonel) Claud Thomas Bourchier VC

Lieutenant (later Colonel) Claud Thomas Bourchier VC

Early Life & Enlistment Claud Thomas Bourchier was born in Brayford, Devon, on 22nd April 1831. The son of a serving officer, he followed his father into the Army and received his first commission at the age of 18 in The Rifle Brigade. By his early twenties he had...
Rifleman (later Corporal) A.E. Shepherd VC

Rifleman (later Corporal) A.E. Shepherd VC

Early Life & Enlistment Albert Shepherd was born at Royston, near Barnsley, Yorkshire, on 11th January 1897. The son of a miner, Shepherd followed his father into the pits, working as a pony driver at New Monckton Colliery. On 4 August 1915, he enlisted in one of Lord...
Captain John Butler, VC, DSO

Captain John Butler, VC, DSO

Early Life & Military Career John Butler was born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, on 20th December 1888. Educated at Wellington College, he followed in his father’s footsteps by pursuing a military career. He attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and was...
Rifleman George Peachment VC

Rifleman George Peachment VC

Early Life & Enlistment George Peachment was born on 5th May 1897 in Bury, Lancashire. After leaving school, he worked as an apprentice fitter, but like many young men of his generation, he was determined to serve when war broke out in 1914. At first, his youth held...
Serjeant Edward Cooper VC

Serjeant Edward Cooper VC

From Fruit Cart to Front Lines Edward Cooper was born in Stockton-on-Tees in May 1896, and left school at just 13 to begin life as an errand boy in his uncle’s butcher shop. By the outbreak of the First World War, he was running his own Co-operative Society fruit...