George Nurse (VC)

For the footballer, see George Nurse (footballer).

George Nurse VC
Born	(1873-04-14)14 April 1873 Enniskillen, County Fermanagh
Died	25 November 1945(1945-11-25) (aged 72) Liverpool, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1892–1918
Rank	Lieutenant
Unit	Royal Artillery
Battles / wars	Second Boer War World War I
Awards	Victoria Cross

George Edward Nurse VC (14 April 1873 – 25 November 1945) was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland. He was educated in Guernsey in the Channel Islands where both his parents had been born. He was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Details

Nurse was 26 years old, and a corporal in the 66th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, British Army during the Second Boer War when the following deed took place during the Battle of Colenso for which he was awarded the VC:

At Colenso on the 15th December, 1899, the detachments serving the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, had all been either killed, wounded, or driven from their guns by Infantry fire at close range, and the guns were deserted. About 500 yards behind the guns was a donga in which some of the few horses and drivers left alive were sheltered. The intervening space was swept with shell and rifle fire. Captain Congreve, Rifle Brigade, who was in the donga, assisted to hook a team into a limber, went out; and assisted to limber up a gun. Being wounded, he took shelter; but, seeing Lieutenant Roberts fall, badly wounded, he went out again and brought him in. Captain Congreve was shot through the leg, through the toe of his boot, grazed on the elbow and the shoulder, and his horse shot in three places...

Lieutenant Roberts assisted Captain Congreve. He was wounded in three places...

Corporal Nurse also assisted.

Further information

He achieved the rank of lieutenant with the Royal Artillery during World War I. He died in Liverpool on 25 November 1945.

The medal

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich, London.

See also

• List of Channel Islands Victoria Cross recipients

References

Listed in order of publication year

• The Register of the Victoria Cross (1981, 1988 and 1997)
• Clarke, Brian D. H. (1986). "A register of awards to Irish-born officers and men". The Irish Sword. XVI (64): 185–287.
• 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)
• Liverpool VCs (James Murphy, Pen and Sword Books, 2008)

External links

• Location of grave and VC medal (Liverpool)
• George Nurse at Find a Grave