Corporal Henry James Knight VC

During the Boer War 1899-1902, Corporal Knight was in charge of a party of four men of No1 Company, 4th Mounted Infantry Division in the operations near Van Wyk’s Vlei. On 21 August 1900, while a detachment of the Company under Captain Frank Ewart was holding the right of the line against 50 Boers, Knight and his men were posted among some rocks to cover the rear of the detachment’s position. But their post was surrounded at short range, putting their situation in acute danger. He and his men retired one by one to a place with better cover, but two of his men were killed and the other two wounded. The position was held for an hour while Ewart’s detachment withdrew. Knight took the two wounded men away, placing one in a position of safety and the other he carried for two miles. Corporal Knight was recommended for the Victoria Cross, gazetted on 4 Jan 1901. He was presented with the medal in Pretoria on 8 June 1902, by Lord Kitchener.
James Huntley Knight (later known as Henry James Knight) was born in Yeovil, Somerset, on 5 Nov 1878 and joined the 1st Battalion, King’s Liverpool Regiment for service in South Africa. After the war he remained in the army, serving in India, and fought in the First World War, reaching the rank of Captain. He was married to Carrie in 1903 and they set up home at Milborne in Dorset. He lived to the age of 77 and died in Winterborne Anderson, near Blandford on 24 November 1955. He was cremated in Bournemouth. His medals are in the King’s Regimental Museum, Liverpool.

Regimental Details | Soldiers