Lance Corporal

JOHN JOSEPH CAFFREY, VC.

BORN: 23^rd October 1891, Birr, Kings County, Offaly, Ireland.

The Family moved to Nottingham in about 1895, and in the 1901 Census, he is living at 4 Wood Court, Nottingham.

This block of houses stood where today the Victoria Shopping Centre stands. Most of these houses were demolished in 1898, for the coming of the railway. Victoria Railway Station was to be opened here on the 24 May, 1900.

John was educated at St Mary’s Roman Catholic School on Derby Road, Nottingham.

John Caffrey enlisted into the army in 1910.

Later, at his own request, he transferred to the 2nd Battalion, York & Lancaster Regiment, in which his father had served.

SERVED: 7th Battalion, Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment, and later 2^nd Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment.

Upon the outbreak of the First World War, Caffrey was mobilized on 4th August 1914, sailed for France on 8th September, and went into action with his Battalion on the 21st September.

He was 24 years old, and a Private in the 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, British Army, during the First World War.

The 2nd York & Lancaster Regiment moved into the Ypres salient on the night of 31 May / 1 June, 1915. By the end of August, the Battalion had received four drafts of replacements numbering 340 men, bringing it back up to strength after the attack at Hooge.

On the 15th November, 1915, men of the 2nd York & Lancaster returned to the trenches, this time at La Brique. The relief was completed by 22.50 hours that night, and the situation was described as “quiet.” The next day, the 16th was fine and bright, and it was on this day that Private John Caffrey earned his Victoria Cross.

DATE OF GAZETTE: 22^nd January, 1916.

V.C. CITATION:

For most conspicuous bravery on 16th November, 1915, near La Brique. A man of the West Yorkshire Regiment had been badly wounded and was lying in the open unable to move and in full view of, and about 300 to 400 yards from, the enemy’s trenches. Corporal Stirk, Royal Army Medical Corps, and Private Caffrey at once started out to rescue him, but at the first attempt they were driven back by shrapnel fire.

Soon afterwards they started again under close sniping and machine-gun fire, and succeeded in reaching and bandaging the wounded man but, just as Corporal Stirk had lifted him on Private Caffrey’s back, he himself was shot in the head. Private Caffrey put down the wounded man, bandaged Corporal Stirk, and helped him back to safety. He then returned and brought in the man from the West Yorkshire Regiment.

He had made three journeys across the open under close and accurate fire, and had risked his own life to save others, with the utmost coolness and bravery.

John Caffrey was invested with his Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace, on the 23rd February, 1916.

He later achieved the rank of Lance-Corporal.

It appears that Corporal Stirk received no official recognition for his part in the rescue, beyond being mentioned in the citation of Caffrey's award. In a way, Caffrey's deed was a repeat of an earlier act of heroism which earned him the Russian Cross of St George (4th Class), awarded on the 25th August, 1915, when he brought in a seriously wounded officer under heavy fire.

On his return to Nottingham he was given a Civic Reception, and was introduced to the crowds in the Old Market Square.

John Caffrey was discharged from the Army in 1919, with the Rank of Sergeant.  During the 1920’s he worked as a member of the Sunderland Fire Brigade / Police, and returned to Nottingham and worked for a carriage and wagon maker.

 He lost his job in the depression, and became a symbol of the “Forgotten Men” of Britain – a VC winner forced to live in poverty.

His cause was taken up by (possibly) Colonel Sir Louis Halle Gluckstein, the East Nottingham Parliamentary candidate, in 1931. Caffrey’s plight was also bought to the attention of the Lord Mayor of Nottingham in either 1930/31 Alderman Arthur Pollard, or 1931/32 Alderman William Green, who found him work with the local Council.

During the Second World War he served as a Company Sergeant Major in the Home Guard. After the war in worked at Butlin’s holiday camp in Filey, Yorkshire, as a Sergeant Commissionaire  While he worked there, another Victoria Cross winner from Nottingham, Harry Nicholls, was the camp boxing instructor. (Unconfirmed).

John moved to Derby, and died on 26^th February, 1953. He was buried a few days later at Wilford Hill Cemetery, Nottingham. Unfortunately, his name did not appear on the headstone at that time.

DIED: 26^th February 1953, aged 62.

BURIED: He was buried with full military honours at Wilford Hill Cemetery, Nottingham. His name was not included on the headstone, but this was rectified when a new headstone was unveiled ion 23rd May, 2007. Chris Stewart, our Treasurer, was one of the three local men who worked on the fund raising, and acted as Treasurer for the Caffrey Project.

His Victoria Cross is on display in the York & Lancaster Regimental Museum, Rotherham, South Yorkshire

    Medal entitlement Victoria Cross

1914 Star & clasp 5th Aug - 22nd Nov 1914

British War Medal 1914 - 1920

Victory Medal 1914 - 1919

King George VI Coronation Medal 1937

Cross of St George 4th Class, Russian

On the 23rd May 2007 a new headstone which would recognise John Caffrey as being a holder of the Victoria Cross was unveiled at Wilford Hill Cemetery Nottingham.