Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Bushell VC DSO

The 7th Service Battalion of the Queen's Royal West Surreys were just north of Tergnier in France, west of St Quentin's Canal, in March 1918. Captain Christopher Bushell had been promoted to Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in charge of the battalion. On the 23rd he led C Company in a counter-attack in conjunction with another regiment from an Allied country. During the advance he was badly wounded in the head but carried on. He encouraged the men and went along the line to urge them on. He refused to go to the rear for medical attention until he was losing consciousness. He had set an example which allowed the line to remain intact in the face of heavy fire from enemy rifles and machine guns.
Bushell was born in Neston, Cheshire on 31st Oct 1888. He was educated at Rugby and went to Corpus Christie College, Oxford. He was called to the bar but he followed a military career, joining the 1st Battalion Special Reserve of the Queen's in 1912. By 1918 he was commanding the 7th Battalion. But on 8th August 1918, five months after winning his VC, he was killed at Morlencourt on the Somme. He was buried at Querrieu British Cemetery in France. His award was gazetted on 3rd May and presented posthumously to his widow at Buckingham Palace on 11th May 1919.

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