Arthur Martin-Leake
Arthur Martin-Leake 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.
Details
He was 27 years old, and a Surgeon Captain in the South African Constabulary then, Royal Army Medical Corps, British Army, attd. 5th Field Ambulance during the South African War (Boer War) when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 8 February 1902, at Vlakfontein, South Africa, Surgeon Captain Martin-Leake went out into the firing line to dress a wounded man under very heavy enemy fire only 100 yards off. He then attended a badly wounded officer and while doing so was shot himself. He only gave up when thoroughly exhausted and then refused water until other wounded men had been served.
BAR: During the period 29 October to 8 November 1914 near Zonnebeke, Belgium, Lieutenant Martin-Leake showed most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in rescuing, whilst exposed to constant fire, a large number of the wounded who were lying dose to the enemy's trenches.
Further information
One of only three men to be awarded the VC twice (the others are N.G. Chavasse and C.H. Upham). He later achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Remembrance Service
First double VC commemorated
By Michael Tillotson
The Times Mon Feb 11 2002
A SERVICE of remembrance for the life of a man twice awarded the Victoria Cross was held last Friday, the centenary of the action when he won his first award.
While serving with the South African Constabulary during the Boer War 1899-1902, Surgeon-Captain Arthur Martin-Leake received the VC for devotion to duty and self-sacrifice on February 8,1902, when he went forward under intense fire from 40 Boer riflemen, less than 100 yards distant, to dress the wounds of a man. The action occurred at Vlakfontein in the Transvaal, where a major engagement had been fought the previous year.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Martin-Leake was a doctor with the Indian Railways. Fearing that, at the age of 40, he would not be accepted for military service, he made his way to Paris and enlisted at the British Consulate before attaching himself to the first medical unit he could find - the 5th Field Ambulance. He was just in time for the First Battle of Ypres, at the centre of which seven British divisions were outnumbered two to one in the German offensive on the Western Front in the last days of October 1914. Throughout the baffle, Martin-Leake again displayed conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. He was personally responsible for the rescue of many British wounded lying close to the enemy positions. He received a Bar to his Victoria Cross, becoming the first man to be so honoured.
Arthur Martin-Leake was born at High Cross near Ware in Hertfordshire on April 4, 1874. He was educated at Westminster and University College Hospital, London. After demobiisation, he returned to his work with the Indian Railways until retirement in 1932. He died in 1953.
The Leake family has been associated with High Cross for several generations. At the service the family was represented by Mr Hugh Martin-Leake; Major Cohn Bonfield represented the Royal Army Medical Corps with Captain Jake Baker - who had orchestrated the event, Captain Tessa Phillipps represented the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps; and Major Charles Monk the local Army Cadet Force.
The Rev Hilary Sharman conducted the service in the Church of St John the Evangelist, where the Leake family is commemorated by a PreRaphaelite-style window. Last Post and Reveille were sounded by Colour-Sergeant "Digger" Gardner of The Royal Anglian Regiment.
The Victoria Cross has been awarded twice to the same individual on only two other occasions. Captain Noel G. Chavasse, also of the RAMC, won the VC for gallantry at Guillemont, France, in October 1916, and the Bar for heroism at Wieltje in Belgium in September 1917. Captain Charles H. Upham, a New Zealander, whose family was connected by marriage to that of Captain Chavasse, won the VC for outstanding leadership and courage fighting with the Canterbury Regiment of New Zealand during the German invasion of Crete in 1941, and the Bar for gallantry at the Baffle of El Ruweisat Ridge in the Western Desert in July 1942.
Mrs Ann Clayton, the biographer of Martin-Leake and Chavasse, also attended the service.
The medal
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Army Medical Services Museum (Aldershot, England).
Reference
- Martin Leake : Double VC (Ann Clayton, 1997)
- Monuments To Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- VCs of the First World War - 1914 (Gerald Gliddon, 1994)
- Victoria Crosses of the Anglo-Boer War (Ian Uys, 2000)
See also
External links
- Location of grave and VC medal (http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/hertford.htm) (Hertfordshire)
- Lieutenant Colonel A. Martin-Leake (http://www.barmy.co.uk/ramc/martin-leake.htm)
This page has been migrated from the Victoria Cross Reference (http://www.victoriacross.net) with permission.