Henry Edward Manning Douglas

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox military person Major-General Henry Edward Manning Douglas Template:Post-nominals (11 July 1875 – 14 February 1939) was an English 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.

Biography

Born in Gillingham, Medway,<ref name="Douglas">Template:Cite journal</ref> Douglas took the Scottish Triple Qualification (LRCP(Edin), LRCS(Edin), LRCPS(Glas) in 1898. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 28 July 1899,<ref>Hart′s Army list, 1903</ref> and travelled to South Africa following the outbreak of the Second Boer War three months later.

Douglas was 24 years old, and a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps<ref name="Epsom">Template:Cite journal</ref> during the Second Boer War, when the following deed earned him the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Magersfontein, South Africa, on 11 December 1899:

On the 11th December, 1899, during the action at Magersfontein, Lieutenant Douglas showed great gallantry and devotion under a very severe fire in advancing in the open and attending to Captain Gordon, Gordon Highlanders, who was wounded, and also attending to Major Robinson and other wounded men under a fearful fire. Many similar acts of devotion and gallantry were performed by Lieutenant Douglas on the same day.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>{{#if:|

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Douglas was himself wounded by a bullet in the face at Magersfontein, and was invalided back home. He returned to South Africa only two months later, however, leaving Southampton in the SS Ottoman in late February 1900,<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> and continued to serve until he returned to the United Kingdom in early 1901. He received the VC from King Edward VII during an investiture at Marlborough House on 25 July 1901.<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> The following year he was appointed for light duty in the Home District,<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> and promoted to captain on 28 July 1902.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

He also served in the First World War and later achieved the rank of Major General.<ref name="SAMJ">Template:Cite journal</ref> In October 1914, the Duchess of Wellington’s Hospital was opened at the Casino at La Touquet with a staff of sixty orderlies, nineteen Bart’s nurses and four qualified dressers. The chief surgeon was Major (later Sir) Charles Watson FRCS assisted by five Medical Officers. Its commandant was Major HEM Douglas RAMC, VC, DSO.<ref>Myers, Charles S, Shell Shock in France, Cambridge University Press, 1940, reprinted 2011</ref>

He is buried in Epsom. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Army Medical Services Museum in Aldershot, England.

Bibliography

• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
• Victoria Crosses of the Anglo-Boer War (Ian Uys, 2000)
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Location of grave and VC medal (Surrey)
• Anglo-Boer War biography