Wartime lifesaver’s heroism is honoured

SINCE 1856, the Victoria Cross – the highest award for military valour – has been awarded 1,356 times.

Although many Yorkshiremen are among this select group of individuals, only one Dalesman has received the honour – Arthur Poulter.

Born in East Witton, near Middleham, in 1894, Arthur Poulter belonged to a large family and, on leaving the village school, worked on a local farm.

It is not clear why, but as the storm clouds of the First World War gathered, 20- year-old Arthur left the relative tranquillity of the Dales and sought employment in the industrial West Riding.

He found work as a drayman with Timothy Taylor’s brewery in Keighley.

As the war progressed, in common with most of his generation and keen to do his bit, he applied to join the Royal Navy. However, a minor dental problem thwarted him and he ended in his local Army regiment, the Duke of Wellington’s.

After training, he was shipped off to France and became a regimental stretcher-bearer. Not for these men the comparative “safety” of the trenches – they braved the mud and bullets of no man’s land to rescue injured colleagues and take them to dressing stations at the rear where they would receive medical attention. They were an easy target for enemy snipers and machine gunners and their life-saving work often had fatal consequences.

As the conflict entered its final year, in April 1918, the German Army launched an offensive in what would be their final effort to defeat the Allies. Using lightlyequipped stormtroopers, the Germans broke through the Allied front lines and Private Poulter’s battalion was moved up in support at Erquinghem-Lys.

With instructions to hold the railway line, the 150 Yorkshire soldiers soon sustained heavy casualties from the German machine guns. Ordered to retreat, only one officer and ten men returned from the action, leaving behind many severely wounded others.

Determined he would not leave his dying colleagues to their fate, Pte Poulter defied the firestorm and over the next few hours carried many of the wounded soldiers to safety on his back.

While doing so, one was shot when he was being carried; on another journey both rescuer and rescued were buried alive by an artillery shell, forcing Pte Poulter to dig them out.

By his actions, Pte Poulter saved the lives of at least ten men and it was said that his pre-war work carrying sacks of barley and beer barrels gave him the physical strength to rescue his comrades.

Pte Arthur Poulter’s medals – the Victoria Cross, British War Medal (1914-20), Victory Medal, King George VI Coronation Medal 1937, and Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953

Two weeks later, at Kemmell and again in the thick of the action, an enemy bullet struck him. Entering behind his ear, it blinded him. Incredibly, he walked to the dressing station but it was the end of his involvement in the war. After a year of operations, he regained his sight, making a full recovery.

His actions on April 10 were considered to be worthy of the country’s highest honour and on June 28, 1918, the award of the VC – made from bronze taken from a Russian cannon captured during the Crimean War – was announced in the London Gazette.

The citation read: “For most conspicuous bravery when acting as a stretcher-bearer, at Erquinghem-Lys, on the 10th of April, 1918.

“On ten occasions Private Poulter carried badly wounded men on his back to a safe locality, through a particularly heavy artillery and machine-gun barrage.

Again, after a withdrawal over the river had been ordered.

Private Poulter returned in full view of the enemy, who were advancing, and carried back another man who had been left behind wounded. He bandaged- up over forty men under fire, and his conduct throughout the whole day was a magnificent example to all ranks. This very gallant soldier was seriously wounded when attempting another rescue in the face of the enemy.”

On December 13, 1918, King George V invested a proud Arthur Poulter with his Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace. A family tale recalled that his son once swapped the medal for a bag of marbles until Mr Poulter asked him to retrieve it.

In December 1956, shortly after his death, the Victoria Cross and Arthur Poulter’s other medals were given on loan to Leeds City Museum.

However, in June 1999, the Poulter family donated the VC and other medals to the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment Museum in Halifax, where they are still on display today.

Accompanied by a company of soldiers in June 1998, his family travelled to France when the town of Erquinghem-Lys also unveiled its own monument to the heroic Dalesman. Additionally, in June 2005, the regiment was granted freedom of the town.

Major Bob Heron, of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, said: “His actions even today would earn him the VC. The family were so generous to give this valuable medal to the regimental museum where it is proudly displayed for everyone to see.”

A dusty copy of the July 1918 East Witton parish magazine contains details of the actions that earned Pte Poulter his VC. It speaks of planning a permanent memorial, but nothing appears to have ever been done.

The residents were probably more concerned with erecting a memorial to the 13 men of the village who did not return from the conflict.

East Witton’s tribute to the men of the village who died

The surviving village servicemen were all given a silver-tipped walking stick.

However, plans are in place by the Government to mark the birthplace of all VC holders with a commemorative plaque, so East Witton’s bravest son may get his memorial after all.