Ernest Beachcroft Beckwith Towse

Ernest Beachcroft Beckwith Towse VC KCVO CBE (23 April 1864-21 June 1948) 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.

Details

He was 35 years old, and a captain in the 1st Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders, British Army during the South African War (Boer War).

He twice performed signal acts of gallantry. At Magersfontein, on December 11, 1899, he tried to rescue on his back the mortally wounded Colonel Downman. Finding it impossible to carry him, Towse remained with him in the firing line until assistance arrived. Towse's second deed of valour came on 30 April 1900. In one of the most dramatic fights of the Second Boer War, he and 22 men of Kitchener's Horse and the Gordons confronted a party of about 150 Boers on the top of Mount Thaba, far from any support. The greatly outnumbered group were called on to surrender, but the captain ordered his men to open fire and remained firing himself until he was severely wounded (both eyes shattered). The Boer mercenaries were driven back in utter confusion. His gallantry was so magnificent, so fruitful in tactical result, that for his conduct he was awarded the coveted Victoria Cross.

Queen Victoria, it is said, shed tears when pinning the decoration. Probably at her instance, The War Office awarded Towse with a special wounds pension of £300 a year.

He had previously distinguished himself with the Chitral Relief Force in 1895, and in the campaign on the North-West Frontier of India 1898.

Further information

Served in the First World War 1914-18.

The medal

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Gordon Highlanders Museum "(Aberdeen, Scotland)".

References

*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
*Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995)
*Victoria Crosses of the Anglo-Boer War (Ian Uys, 2000)

External links

* [http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/oxfordsh.htm Location of grave and VC medal] "(Oxfordshire)"
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11866345 Find-A-Grave biography]