He was a Wiltshire farmer who became the Darling of Swindon after receiving Britain’s highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross. William Gosling died at his Wroughton home 70 years ago this month. Here we celebrate the heroism of Gosling and other Wiltshire men honoured with the ultimate accolade for “valour in the face of the enemy”

HAVING stormed full pelt into the Valley of Death before somehow contriving to gallop out alive, Clement Walker Heneage, a future High Sheriff of Wiltshire and survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade, didn’t hesitate when duty once more impelled him to ride down the throat of enemy gunfire.

Four years after his gallantry at Balaclava during one of history’s most infamous military mishaps, and while still a member of the 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars, Heneage, 27, drew upon his escapade in Crimea to play a heroic role in the First Indian War of Independence.

Whatever your feelings on 19th Century British Imperialism it is impossible to deny the courage of the impressively bewhiskered Heneage who led a cavalry squadron into the blazing barrels of the rebel army, “killing swathes of soldiers, taking two guns and continuing the charge right through the enemy encampment.”

Witnessed by dozens of hussars who rode into the bloody stew on Captain Heneage’s coat-tails at Gwalior on June 17, 1858, his gung-ho bravery was rewarded with the VC.

Born in Compton Bassett near Calne and buried there 70 years later in 1901, Heneage is one of 12 recipients with strong Wiltshire connections of that august medallion that is forged from the metal of Russian cannon captured during the Crimean War.

Only two men born within the present Borough of Swindon have been awarded this esteemed badge of bravery under fire – an honour introduced by Queen Victoria in 1856 as the Crimean War drew to an end.

Sadly, we know precious little about the actions of the first, Lieutenant Hastings Edward Harrington (1832-1861), born in Hinton Parva near Wanborough. He too won his VC with the Anglo-Indian army during the Indian Mutiny.

But we don’t actually know what specific acts of “conspicuous gallantry” Harrington, 25, performed from November 14-22, 1857 which so impressed fellow soldiers during the siege and relief of Lucknow... except that he was severely wounded while pursing the fleeing army.

Having recovered from a bullet lodged in his back for many months, Harrington died from cholera aged 29 while serving with the 6th Battalion Bengal Artillery at Agra.

Fast forward to the barbed wire strewn trenches of the Western Front in 1917 where Wanborough-born Sergeant William Gosling, 24, of the 3rd Wessex Brigade, Royal Field Artillery had become a fully paid up member of The Suicide Club.

These were the guys who lobbed 60lb shells – “flying pigs” – into enemy positions 300 yards from front line British trenches… and took similar unforgiving punishment in return.

Instead of landing where it was supposed to, one British shell on April 5, 1917, flopped out of its Stokes Mortar into a pile of mud just 30ft away.

The pig, it was deduced, had a faulty cartridge and could blow up any minute, obliterating The Suicide Club. Gosling’s pal Charles Fowler in 1964 recalled Bill’s exact words to a fellow sergeant. “Come on, let’s toss for it.”

Bill lost and so – “coolly and calmly” – he ventured over-the-top into no man’s land. Tentatively lifting the nose of the half-sunken bomb, he unscrewed the fuse and chucked it as far as possible, whereupon it instantly exploded.

Gosling’s action “undoubtedly saved the lives of the whole detachment” according to the VC citation. Returning to Wroughton where he now lived, Bill received a hero’s welcome… along with £50 from a village whip-round.

The Adver launched its own appeal, amassing £130, five shillings and sixpence while a packed presentation at Swindon Town Hall saw Gosling collect a scroll and a silver salver amidst a rousing backdrop provided by the Wiltshire National Reserve Band.

A Home Guard in World War Two, Swindon’s great war hero died, aged 52, from kidney disease on February 12, 1945 and is buried at Wroughton churchyard.

Surveying a devastated landscape grimly reminiscent to that of World War One, Sergeant Maurice Rogers crouched behind a heap of rubble, weighed up his options, grabbed his Thompson machine gun and ran headfirst into the spitting gunfire of the German defenses.

It was the Battle of Anzio, Italy, 1944. Rogers, 24, and the men of the 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, were hopelessly pinned down by intense fire, sustaining heavy casualties. There was only one thing for it… Bullets screaming past him, Rogers single-handedly charged through a minefield and stormed the nearest machine gun nest, drawing the enemy fire and inspiring his platoon to follow.

Blown off his feet by a grenade and severely injuring a leg, he got up and attacked another German positon, attempting to silence it before being shot and killed at point blank range.

The citation of Rogers’ VC proclaims that his “undaunted determination, fearless devotion to duty and superb courage carried his platoon on to their objective in a strongly-defended position.

“The great gallantry and heroic self-sacrifice of Sergeant Rogers were in the highest tradition of the British Army.”

Having lived in Wiltshire for ten years, Rogers Meadow in Marlborough and Sgt Rogers Way in Hopton near Devizes were both named in his honour.

Two decades later in 1965, he gained another posthumous accolade when his actions were recounted as the cover story of the popular boys’ comic, The Victor.

  • WHEN 75 year-old Daniel Beak spent the last days of his life in a bed at Swindon’s Princess Margaret Hospital his thoughts may well have strayed to those remarkable days in a foreign field half-a-century earlier.

    On several occasions between August 21 and September 4, 1918, while fighting on the Western Front, Major General Daniel Beak – Beaky to his comrades – inspired open-mouthed awe when he led his men to a series of victories which saw him proclaimed a national hero.

    In the face of constant enemy fire and armed with a Lewis gun, the unflappable Beak led from the front – as always – to capture four German positions.

    Days later, although dazed by a shell fragment, he was once more in the vanguard of a do or die attack under intense fire.

    A nest of machine gunners were holding back his brigade so Beaky, 27, and another man stormed into their midst to force the surrender of ten incredulous enemy soldiers.

    “His bravery was incredible. It’s quite fantastic – like something out of a war movie” said auctioneer John Hayward in 2003 when Beaky’s virtually unparalleled haul of 12 medals – including his VC – were sold for a then world record of £155,000.

    Beak – who lived in Cheltenham at the time before later moving to Swindon – went onto serve with distinction under Montgomery in North Africa in World War Two. One of Britain’s most decorated soldiers, he died at PMH in 1967.

  • THE tree-enshrouded hamlet of Cadley in the heart of Savernake Forest could hardly be further from the hell-hole of Sebastopol during the Crimean War.

    Thomas Arthur (1835-1902), who lived and is buried in Cadley, knew them both.

    A humble labourer back home, he earned his VC after a series of outstanding acts of bravery during the summer of 1855 that went way beyond the call of duty.

    A driver and gunner for the Royal Artillery, Arthur, 20, crossed open ground on several occasions – attracting intense Russian fire – while carrying desperately needed barrels of ammunition to the 7th Fusiliers.

    Two weeks later he volunteered and led a party to spike the guns of a fortified Russian artillery position.

    Later, and on numerous occasions, he left the trenches to bring in wounded officers and infantry men who would otherwise have perished.

    Arthur (also known as Macarthur) who lived at 29 Salisbury Road, Cadley, is commemorated with a headstone in the village churchyard.