Reginald Clare Hart

General Sir Reginald Clare Hart, VC, GCB, KCVO, Royal Humane Society's Silver Medal (11 June 1848 – 18 October 1931), was an Irish 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.

Details

Hart was born at Scarriff, County Clare and educated at Cheltenham College. He was 30 years old, and a lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers, British Army during the Second Afghan War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

On 31 January 1879 in the Bazar Valley, Afghanistan, Lieutenant Hart, while on convoy duty, ran some 1,200 yards to the rescue of a wounded sowar of the 13th Bengal Lancers, lying in a river bed exposed to the fire of the enemy on all sides. He reached the wounded man, drove off the enemy and with the help of some soldiers who had accompanied him, carried the casualty to safety.

Further information

He later achieved the rank of general. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey from 1914 to 1918.He died Bournemouth, Hampshire, 18 October 1931.

References

*The Register of the Victoria Cross (1981, 1988 and 1997)
*The Irish Sword (Brian Clarke 1986)
*Ireland's VCs ISBN 1-899243-00-3 (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.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_vc.htm#1h Royal Engineers Museum] Sappers VCs
* [http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/dorset.htm Location of grave and VC medal] "(Dorset)"
* [http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/OC_victoria_crosses.html Reginald HART of Cheltenham College]