Photo submitted by Iain Tidey - (as a POW, from the Godley Family)
Sidney Frank Godley 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. He was the first private soldier to be awarded the VC in the First World War.
He was 25 years old, and a Private in the 4th Bn., The Royal Fusiliers, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 23 August1914 at Mons, Belgium, Private Godley took over a machine-gun on Nimy Bridge when the lieutenant (Maurice James Dease) in charge of the section had been mortally wounded. Private Godley held the enemy from the bridge single-handed for two hours under very heavy fire and was wounded twice. His gallant action covered the retreat of his comrades, but he was eventually taken prisoner. His final act was to destroy the gun and throw the pieces into the canal.
Frank was a painter and decorator and was son of William Godley, a pit sawyer, who was living at Mount Noddy, East Grinstead in 1881.
Sidneys family, for several generations, had come from the East Grinstead and Felbridge area, and they can be traced back to George Godley, of East Grinstead, in 1770, and Sidneys paternal grandmother was Harriet Pattenden, from the large Pattenden family of Horne, (part of Felbridge before the Felbridge ecclesiastical was created in 1865).
Godley remained a prisoner of war for four years until in 1918 he was able to walk out of the camp when the guards deserted their posts during the revolution in Berlin.
There are 1 more (non-authoritative) comments on this page
Feeds |
Contact