Wilfrith Elstob

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox military person Lieutenant Colonel Wilfrith Elstob Template:Post-nominals (8 September 1888 – 21 March 1918) 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.

Background

Elstob was born in Chichester in 1888, the son of the Rev. Canon J. G. Elstob and Frances Alice Elstob. His elder brother, Eric, would serve in the Royal Navy and play first-class cricket. He was educated at Christ's Hospital. Until war broke out and he volunteered, he was a schoolteacher.Template:Cn When Elstob was 29 years old, and a temporary lieutenant colonel commanding the 16th (Service) Battalion, Manchester Regiment,<ref name="ManchReg">Template:Cite web</ref> British Army during the First World War, he was awarded the VC for his actions on 21 March 1918 at the Manchester Redoubt, near Saint-Quentin, France on the first day of the German spring offensive. He was killed in action that same day.<ref>CWGC entry</ref>

The medal

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Museum of the Manchester Regiment, at Ashton Town Hall, Ashton-under-Lyne, England.

Commemoration

Elstob has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial, in the Somme department of France, to the missing of the Fifth Army; and on the war memorials in Macclesfield & Congleton, Cheshire.<ref>Macclesfield War Memorial</ref> There is a memorial to him in All Saints Church, Siddington, where his father was vicar.<ref>Memorial to Lt. Col. W. Elstob VC, Siddington, Cheshire</ref>

Bibliography

• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
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• Wilfrith Elstob, VC, DSO, MC: Manchester Regiment – "Here We Fight, Here We Die" (Robert Bonner, 1998)