- Edward Bingham
Rear Admiral Edward Barry Stewart Bingham VC, OBE (born26 July 1881 inBangor, County Down ,Ireland — died24 September 1939 ) served in theRoyal Navy during the First World War and was awarded theVictoria Cross for his actions in engaging the German fleet during theBattle of Jutland .Bingham, the son of Lord Clanmorris, entered the Royal Navy in 1895. At the beginning of the First World War, he was appointed
Commander (Executive Officer) of HMS "Invincible", which saw action at theBattle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914.On
31 May ,1916 , during theBattle of Jutland offDenmark , Commander Bingham was in command of adestroyer division. He led his division in their attack, first on enemy destroyers and then on the battle cruisers of the GermanHigh Seas Fleet . Once the enemy was sighted Bingham ordered his own destroyer, HMS "Nestor", and the one remaining destroyer of his division, HMS "Nicator", to close to within 2,750 meters of the opposing battle fleet so that he could bring historpedo es to bear. While making this attack "Nestor" and "Nicator" were under concentrated fire of the secondary batteries of the German fleet and "Nestor" was subsequently sunk. For his actions, Bingham earned theVictoria Cross , one of relatively few awarded for naval bravery during the First World War.Bingham was picked up by the Germans at Jutland, and remained a
prisoner of war until theArmistice . After the war, he remained with the Royal Navy and retired as aRear Admiral in 1932. He was made anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire . Bingham died in 1939, and is buried in theGolders Green cemetery in northwestLondon .Bingham's Victoria Cross was
auction ed bySotheby's in 1983 and was purchased by the North Down Borough Council for £18,000, having outbid a Canadian millionaire. It is now valued at in excess of £100,000 due to the rarity of naval VCs. The medal is displayed at the [http://www.northdown.gov.uk/heritage/ North Down Heritage Centre] ,Bangor, Northern Ireland .References
*
The Register of the Victoria Cross (1981, 1988 and 1997)
*The Irish Sword (Brian Clarke 1986)
*Irelands VCs (Dept of Economic Development 1995)
*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)External links
* [http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/golders.htm Location of grave and VC medal] "(Golders Green)"
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