Ground-breakers & the Most Decorated

Hannah Snell (James Grey) (1723 – 1792)

An 18th Century Female Warrior

Hannah was born on St George’s day in 1723, Worcester. She was one of nine children, eight of who became soldiers, sailors or married into the services. Her grandfather also had a distinguished military career.

In 1740 at the age of 17, Hannah’s parents died. She moved to Wapping and met Dutch Seaman, James Summes who she later married. After seven months he returned to sea but nothing was heard from him. Hannah decided to look for her husband so bound her breasts, borrowed clothing and set off as a man.

She headed to Coventry after hearing the troops were gathering to counter the Jacobite Rising in Scotland. She enlisted as James Grey in Captain Miller’s Company.

The army set off north, taking twenty-two days to march to Carlisle but her disguise remained undetected. She learnt how to handle her arms and perform drills. Hannah received 600 lashes for not obeying the orders of one of her Sergeants – she bore 500 of them without a whimper. The officers admired her courage, and the Commanding Officers cancelled the final 100.

Having no luck in finding her husband she deserted and made for Portsmouth where she enlisted again into the Frazer’s Regiment of Marines. Here she saw action at Pondicherry, killing several Frenchmen before being wounded herself.

She escaped the discovery of her sex by operating on herself and removing a musket ball from her groin. Declared unfit for marine's duty she now served as a deck hand. Still searching for her husband, she finally met a man who told her that James Summes had been executed for murder in Genoa.

When her ship eventually returned to London, she returned to her sister in Wapping. However, her story became known and she was referred to as ‘the heroic marine of Pondicherry’. The Duke of Cumberland ordered her to wear men's clothes. To earn a living she went on the stage and then leased a tavern, naming it ‘The Widow in Masquerade, or the Female Warrior’.

She was awarded a Sovereign’s grant of £30 a year for life and she lived more comfortably than when on the march to Carlisle. This brave and unusual woman died in 1792 with her portrait being hung in Chelsea Hospital.

Euan Lucie- Smith (1889 – 1915)

The first officer of mixed heritage to join the British Army in WW1

Born in 1889 in Jamaica, the youngest of three children, to a well-known family – his father was John Barkley Lucie-Smith, (the Postmaster of Jamaica), and his mother was Catherine “Katie” (daughter of the distinguished lawyer and politician Samuel Constantine Burke, who campaigned for Jamaican constitutional reform).  

Educated in public schools in England, Euan joined the Jamaica Militia Artillery and worked as a Colonial Secretariat in Kingston. 

He arrived at the Front in March 1915, and died fighting with the 1st Battalion at the 2nd Battle of Ypres at St Julien on the 25th April 1915. They launched an attack at 4.30am, coming under murderous heavy-machine gun fire and with no support, withdrew at 7am with very high casualties – 17 officers, 500 other ranks, killed, wounded & missing representing about half the battalion. 

Lieutenant Euan Lucie-Smith has re-written military history – during WW1 he was the first officer of mixed heritage to join the British Army (September 1914) and to die. This was believed previously to be Walter Tull. 

Private William Tapp (? – 1915)

Diarist who wrote about the Christmas Truce in 1914

Private William Tapp served with the 1st Battalion the Royal Warwickshire Regiment during the First World War. He came from Birmingham and was a batman or servant to Lieutenant Tillyer. 

The museum is lucky to have the original diary that he wrote about the well-known Christmas Truce of 1914. There were unofficial local truces along the Frontline trenches, where neither the Germans nor the British fired at each other. Carols were sung and gifts exchanged.

He was killed in action on the 25th April 1915 at the Second Battle of Ypres at St Julien. This was a disastrous day for the battalion. They came under very heavy-machine gun fire and were quickly forced to withdraw with extremely high casualties. There were 17 officers, 500 other ranks, killed, wounded, and missing. About half the men from the battalion died in that one action. Tapp is commemorated at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

Captain JR Gribble VC (1897 - 1918)

VC winner in WW1 for resisting the German advance

Julian Royds Gribble was born into a wealthy family in London on the 5th January 1897. From the age of 13 he attended Eton. Having earlier been turned down by an admiralty board for the Royal Navy in December 1914 he enrolled at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in May 1915 where he went to the Front with the 10th Battalion in May 1916.

He won his Victoria Cross at Beaumetz in France on the 23rd March 1918, during the German spring offensive. He was wounded and lost consciousness but was resuscitated by the Germans and taken prisoner. He was held in a camp at Mainz, Germany where he gradually recovered his health. On the news of winning the Victoria Cross his fellow prisoners of war celebrated by carrying him around the camp on their shoulders. Sadly he never saw his medal. Whilst waiting to be repatriated at the end of the War he caught pneumonia and died on the 24th November 1918.

Corporal William Amey, VC MM (1881 – 1940)

Awarded the Victoria Cross for capturing many prisoners single-handedly in WW1

William Amey was born in Duddeston in Birmingham in 1881. During World War 1, and in his mid-thirties, he joined the 1/8th Battalion the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Lance Corporal Amey was 37 years old when he took part in the attack by the 75th Brigade on Landrecies to secure the bridgehead on the Sambre. The 1/8th Battalion, who were on the left flank met with stiff opposition near Faubourg Sayer. His citation reads "For most conspicuous bravery on the 4th November 1918 during the attack on Landrecies France, when owing to fog many hostile machine-gun nests were missed by the leading troops.

On his own initiative he led his section against a machine gun nest, under heavy fire, drove the garrison into a neighbouring farm and finally captured about 50 prisoners and several machine guns. Later single-handed and under heavy fire, he attacked a machine-gun post in a farmhouse, killed two of the garrison and drove the remainder into a cellar until assistance arrived. Subsequently, single-handed he rushed a strongly held post, capturing 20 (30) prisoners. He displayed throughout the day the highest degree of valour and determination."

His gallantry made the capture of Fauborg Sayer possible and meant that the Battalion reached their objective of the lock on the Canal. The 1/8th Battalion were then employed on salvage work in Cambrais until July 1919 and were demobilised at Birmingham on the 1st August 1919.

The Victoria Cross was presented to him by the King at Buckingham Palace on the 22nd February 1919. He was demobilised as a Corporal in 1919 and lived in Leamington Spa until his death at the age of 59.

Colonel John Ford Elkington (1866 – 1944)

Accused of cowardice but later won two gallantry medals

In a true story fit for a Hollywood film. Lieutenant Colonel John Ford Elkington commanded the 1st Battalion at the Battle of Le Cateau on the 26th August 1914 during the retreat from Mons. The men got mixed up with another regiment and at St Quentin their commanding officer agreed to the town Mayor’s plea to surrender if the Germans attacked. 

Elkington was tried by court martial for alleged cowardice and conspiring to surrender and cashiered from the Army. Despite being 48 he was determined to redeem himself. He enlisted in the French Foreign Legion, with its’ reputation for being tough and brave. He served with them for 18 months, during which time he won two gallantry medals - the Medaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre with palm, before being seriously wounded and invalided home. On hearing of his gallant exploits King George V restores him to his rank and awards him the DSO.