Corporal William Anderson VC

Corporal Anderson was awarded the Victoria Cross for his brave action at Neuve Chapelle on 12 Mar 1915. On that date a large group of Germans got into the trench occupied by the 2nd Bn Yorkshire Regiment. Armed with grenades, Anderson and three men counter-attacked but the three men were shot and wounded, and unable to use their grenades. Anderson threw his grenades, then took those of his men and threw them. He also opened fire on the enemy and managed to drive them off. The next day, on 13 Mar 1915, he was involved in another attack and presumably was killed, as his body was never found.
William was the eldest son of Alexander, a labourer, and Isabella Anderson of Dallas, Elgin in Scotland. He as born on 28 Dec 1882. He enlisted in the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment, in 1905 and saw service in India, Egypt and South Africa. He was discharged into the Reserve in 1912 but when war broke out he was sent to his old battalion which was with the BEF. He took part in the First Battle of Ypres in Nov 1914, then Estaires in early 1915. It was at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 that he won the VC and then was killed. His name is inscribed on the Le Touret Memorial to the Missing at Pas-de-Calais. There are 234 other names of men of the Green Howards whose bodies were never recovered.
His posthumous award of the VC was gazetted on 22 May 1915. Both of Anderson’s parents were dead so the medal was presented to his brother, Alex, on 19 May 1920, at the Banqueting Hall at Edinburgh Castle, by Lt-General Sir Francis Davies. The medal can be seen at the Regimental Museum in Richmond since 1969 when Alex Anderson donated it.

Regimental Details | Soldiers