Harry Daniels

Who was Harry Daniels?

Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Daniels VC 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.

Harry Daniels was the 13th child of baker in Wymondham, Norfolk. He joined the army at a young age and served abroad in India.

He was 30 years old, and a Company Sergeant-Major in the 2nd Battalion of The Rifle Brigade, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 12 March 1915 at Neuve Chapelle, France, his unit was ordered into an advance on the German trenches across no-man's land which was covered by machine guns and strewn with barbed wire. Daniels and another man, Cecil Reginald Noble, voluntarily rushed in front with cutters and attacked the wires They were both wounded at once, Noble dying later of his wounds.

For further activities on the Western Front he was awarded the Military Cross and later achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Green Jackets Museum at Winchester, England.

A road is named for him in his home town, Wymondham.