Corporal JAMES UPTON, VC.

 BORN: 3^rd May, 1888, Meadows, Nottingham.

SERVED: 1^st Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys).

Many of the early volunteers selected the local Regiment, The Notts & Derbys (Sherwood Foresters), and had found their way into the 1st Battalion, a regular Battalion, ahead of its participation in the attack at Aubers. 27 year old James Upton, a Bulwell man working in Bestwood Colliery before the war, was one of the Battalion stretcher-bearers. The Foresters shared the fate of the other attacking units that day, and Upton did not lack opportunities to demonstrate his bravery, bravery that won him the first of the Victoria Crosses to be awarded that day.

Letter to Pat:

 On 18th May, he wrote to his sister, "I look like getting the VC for rescuing wounded men in a big scrap we had last Monday. I thought my time was up every moment, and I was carrying one chap out on my back when a shell hit him and killed him stone dead. I told you that I had given up my stripes but, for my heroic deed as the General calls it, he promoted me to be a corporal again.

My God, Pat, one could not stop under cover oneself and hear the groans of the wounded and stick it. The shells were coming in hundreds, but I stuck to my task.”

In another letter to his sister, Upton revealed the scale of the losses that the 1st Notts & Derbys had suffered up to that time, "I have been through mud, water and murder. We have lost 935 men during the last month. My other chum got killed the other day. I had been speaking to him and another man, and had only just left when a shell came and blew them all up. I am one of twelve in the whole Regiment who have never been in hospital during our stay in France. My Regiment has had 2,700 casualties of one kind and another. We are having very fine weather now, and it is quite enjoyable. One forgets there is such a thing as war, and cannot sleep if there are no big guns banging away."

He was a little less unambiguous when he spoke at a recruiting rally in Hucknall on 27 July, 1915. He was there to encourage men to join up, so it was hardly surprising:

"If my leave was to go on much longer, I shouldn't be able to run. I am getting so fat, although just at present, life in the trenches is just a picnic from morning till night. We are waiting for more men, and then with a long pull, a strong pull, a pull together we shall get the Germans on the run.

I am going back on Saturday [31st July 1915], but I shall go back with a good heart. Can I persuade a few of you young men to get into khaki? It's a fine life with plenty to do, and plenty of food and drink to do it on. We don't get bully beef and biscuits now, but fresh meat, vegetables and bread - and hundreds of cigarettes.”

He was in the 1st Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters (The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment), British Army, during the First World War at the battle of Aubers Ridge, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

DATE OF GAZETTE: 29^th June, 1915.

V.C. CITATION:

 On 9th May 1915 at Rouges Bancs, France, Corporal Upton displayed great courage all day in rescuing the wounded while exposed to heavy rifle and artillery fire whilst going close to the enemy's parapet regardless of his own safety.  One wounded man was killed by a shell, while the Corporal was carrying him. When not actually carrying the wounded he was engaged in dressing and bandaging the serious cases in front of our parapet.

DIED: 10^th August, 1949.

CREMATED: Golders Green Crematorium, Golders Green, London

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Sherwood Foresters Museum, Nottingham Castle, Nottingham, England.

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[4] ‘Hucknall Dispatch', 8 July 1915
[5] Ibid.
[4] ‘Hucknall Dispatch', 29 July 1915
[6] ‘Hucknall Dispatch', 27 May 1915

How Corporal James Upton, Of The 1^st Battalion Sherwood Foresters, Won The V.C. At Rouges Bancs

Extracted from

'Deeds That Thrill The Empire'

  On Sunday May 9^th 1915, in conjunction with a forward movement of the French troops between the right of our line and Arras, our 1^st Corps and the Indian Corps attacked the German position between Neuve Chapelle and Givenchy, while the 8^th Division of the 4^th Corps attacked the enemy’s trenches in the neighbourhood of Rouges Bancs to the northwest of Fromelles.  Our artillery preparation at Rouges Bancs began shortly before 5 a.m., and half an hour later our infantry advanced to the assault of the German trenches, which were separated from ours by a distance of some 250 yards, the intervening ground being destitute of every vestige of cover.  The East Lancashire and two Companies of the 1st Sherwood Foresters started the attack; but the artillery preparation had been altogether inadequate, and our men came up against unbroken wire and parapets.  Many casualties occurred during the advance, and many more during the subsequent retirement. About 7 a.m., after a second bombardment of the enemy’s position, the remaining two Companies of the 1^st Sherwood Foresters scaled the parapet and lined up about thirty yards in front of it, where they lay down in a shallow trench, to await the order to advance.  With them was a young Lincolnshire man, Corporal James Upton, who on that day was destined to win the most coveted distinctions of the British soldier. The ground in front of the Sherwoods was strewn with the wounded, some of them terribly mutilated, and their cries for help were heartrending.  At last Corporal Upton could listen to them no longer; come what might, he was resolved to go to their succour. Crawling out of the trench, he made his way towards the enemy’s lines, and had not gone far when he came upon a Sergeant of the Worcesters, who was wounded in the thigh, the leg being broken.  Upton bandaged him up as well as he could with an old flag and put his leg in splints, which done, he carried him on his back to our trench and consigned him to the care of some comrades.  Then, discarding his pack and the rest of his equipment, which included a couple of jam tin bombs, he went out again and found another man, who had been hit in the stomach.  As this man was too big and heavy to carry, he unrolled his waterproof sheet, placed him on it, and dragged him in.  Going out for the third time, he was proceeding to carry in a man with both legs shattered, and had got within ten yards of the trench, when a high explosive shell burst close to them.  A piece of it struck the wounded man in the back, killing him instantaneously, and giving Upton, though he escaped unhurt, a bad shock.  This obliged him to rest for a while, but soon as he felt better the heroic non-commissioned officer resumed his work of mercy, and venturing out again into the fire swept open, succeeded in rescuing no less than ten more wounded men.  During the remainder of the day until eight at night he was engaged in dressing the serious cases in front of our trenches, exposed the whole time to a heavy artillery and rifle fire, from which, however, he emerged without a scratch.

With thanks to Jim Grundy & The Western Front Association,

 For allowing the the use of their research and work, for further very interesting articles by Jim follow the links below.

Jim is a Nottinghamshire man that has been a member and supporter of the Western Front Association for well over twenty  years, and is very well known for his talks that he given and his involvement at Branches of the Western Front Association.

http://en-gb.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=191300577555354

The Western Front Association,  Perpetuateing the memory of all those who served in the Great War

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