Wilfrith Elstob

Who was Wilfrith Elstob?

Lieutenant Colonel Wilfrith Elstob VC DSO MC 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.

Elstob was born in Chichester in 1888, the son of the Rev. Canon J. G. Elstob and Frances Alice Elstob. He was educated at Christ's Hospital. When Elstob was 29 years old, and a temporary lieutenant-colonel commanding the 16th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, British Army during the First World War, he was awarded the VC for his actions on 21 March 1918 at the Manchester Redoubt, near Saint-Quentin, France on the first day of the Spring Offensive. He was killed in action that same day.

Elstob has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial and on the war memorial in Macclesfield, Cheshire. There is a memorial to him in All Saints Church, Siddington, where his father was Vicar.