Alexander Stewart Burton, VC (20 January 1893 – 9 August 1915) was an Australian 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.

Early life

Burton was born at Kyneton, in the state of Victoria, on 20 January 1893. His father, a grocer, moved his family to Euroa where he commenced working for a department store. After completing his schooling, Alexander joined his father at the store, working in the ironmongers section.Walsh, 1979, pp. 496–497

First World War

Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, Burton enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 18 August 1914 and posted to the

7th Battalion 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythol ...

. He embarked with the battalion for the Middle East on 19 October 1914. On 25 April 1915, 7th Battalion landed at Gallipoli but Burton was sick and did not reach the frontlines until a week later. He was promoted to the rank of lance corporal on 10 July 1915 for "having volunteered and taken part in the forcing of Saphead D21 in the face of the enemy". On 9 August 1915, Burton fought in the

Battle of Lone Pine The Battle of Lone Pine (also known as the Battle of Kanlı Sırt) was fought between Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and Ottoman Empire forces during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War, between 6 and 10 August 1915. The ...

when his company reinforced newly captured Turkish trenches. Burton was one of a party of men that manned a barricade against attacking Turkish soldiers. Killed in this action, he was recommended by his battalion commander,

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Pompey Elliott, for the award of the Victoria Cross (VC). Two other members of the party, Lieutenant

Frederick Tubb Major Frederick Harold Tubb, VC (28 November 1881 – 20 September 1917) was an Australian 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. Life ...

and Corporal

William Dunstan William Dunstan, VC (2 March 1895 – 8 March 1957) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. Bi ...

, were also awarded VCs.Snelling, 1999, pp. 155–158 Burton's VC was gazetted on 15 October 1915; the citation read as follows: Burton has no known grave and is commemorated on the

Lone Pine Memorial Lone may refer to: People *Lone (given name), a given name (including a list of people with this name) *Lone (musician), Matt Cutler, an electronic musician from Nottingham, United Kingdom *Lone (surname), a surname (including a list of people wi ...

.Snelling, 1999, pp. 168–169 He was subsequently

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

by General Sir Ian Hamilton on 28 January 1916. (Mentioned in Despatches)

The medal

In early 1916, the VC, along with a cover letter from King George V, was presented to Burton's father who later wore it for the homecoming of Frederick Tubb, who was a friend of Burton's, and had returned to Australia to convalesce from the wounds received at Lone Pine. Burton's VC remained in his family for many years but in 1967, it was donated to the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, where it is on display.

Honours and awards

Notes

References

*Walsh, G. P. 1979
'Burton, Alexander Stewart (1893–1915)'

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 7. Melbourne University Press: Melbourne. *

External links

*
Alexander Stewart BURTON
The AIF Project, www.aif.adfa.edu.au {{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Alexander Stewart 1893 births 1915 deaths Military personnel from Victoria (Australia) Australian World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross Australian Gallipoli campaign recipients of the Victoria Cross Australian Army soldiers Australian military personnel killed in World War I People from Kyneton