Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Edward Unwin, (20 April 1864 – 19 April 1950) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer and an English recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

forces.

Early life

Born in

Fawley, Hampshire Fawley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated in the New Forest on the western shore of the Solent, approximately 7 miles (11 kilometres) south of Southampton. Fawley is also the site of Fawley Refinery, operated by ...

on 20 April 1864, Unwin joined the merchant navy at the age of 16 and spent 15 years serving on

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

s with P&O. He trained at and joined the

on 16 October 1895 (part of the "Hungry Hundred", merchant mariners recruited to the Navy to fill a shortage of junior officers) and served in the

Benin Expedition The Benin Expedition of 1897 was a punitive expedition by a British force of 1,200 men under Sir Harry Rawson in response to the ambush of a previous British party under Acting Consul General James Phillips, of the Niger Coast Protectorate. ...

and the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

. In November 1901 he was appointed to to serve in HMS ''Forth'', but only five months later he was transferred in April 1902 to , serving in the South Pacific. He was lent to for service on that ship during the voyage to South Africa where the ''Monarch'' was stationed. Unwin retired in 1909 with the rank of

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

. He was recalled to the service on 29 July 1914, shortly before the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

First World War

Initially Unwin served aboard on the staff of Admiral

Sir John Jellicoe Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, (5 December 1859 – 20 November 1935) was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutla ...

but in February 1915 he took command of the

torpedo gunboat In late 19th-century naval terminology, torpedo gunboats were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were superseded by their more successful c ...

which had operated as a despatch vessel for the Commander in Chief,

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and was now a

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

. In 1915, when planning began for the amphibious landing on the

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

peninsula, Unwin proposed beaching the 4,000 ton collier SS ''River Clyde'' on the narrow beach beneath

Sedd el Bahr Sedd el Bahr ( tr, Seddülbahir, ota, سد البحر, meaning "Walls of the Sea") is a village in the district of Eceabat, Çanakkale Province, Turkey. It is located at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. The village lies east of ...

Cape Helles Cape Helles is the rocky headland at the southwesternmost tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey. It was the scene of heavy fighting between Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish and United Kingdom, British troops during the landing at Cape Helles at th ...

, known as

V Beach The landing at Cape Helles ( tr, Seddülbahir Çıkarması) was part of the Gallipoli Campaign the amphibious landings on the Gallipoli peninsula by British and French forces on 25 April 1915 during the First World War. Cape Helles, Helles, a ...

, thereby allowing 2,000 troops to be landed together. At the age of 51, Unwin was promoted to acting

and given command of the ''River Clyde'' for the operation. The ''River Clyde'' beached at 06:22 on 25 April 1915, and the plan called for a steam hopper to form a bridge from the ship to the shore. However, the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

current swept the hopper away so Unwin, accompanied by Able Seaman William Charles Williams, who had served under him on the ''Hussar'' and had been ordered to stay by his side, dove overboard and manhandled two lighters into position, lashing them together to form the bridge. All the while Unwin was under fire from the Turkish defenders. When Williams was mortally wounded, Unwin went to his aid and the lighter he was holding was swept away. Unwin collapsed from cold and exhaustion, his place being taken by other men. After an hour of rest, he returned to the lighters until he was wounded and collapsed again. Once the attempts to land had ceased, Unwin went out a third time to attempt to recover wounded from the beach; according to one account he retrieved seven men. For his actions, he was awarded the

. The citation read: VCEdwardUnwin

In August, when a new landing was to be made by the British IX Corps at

Suvla View of Suvla from Battleship Hill Suvla () is a bay on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in European Turkey, south of the Gulf of Saros. On 6 August 1915, it was the site for the Landing at Suvla Bay by the British IX Corps as pa ...

as part of the

Battle of Sari Bair The Battle of Sari Bair ( tr, Sarı Bayır Harekâtı), also known as the August Offensive (), represented the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire during the Fir ...

, Unwin was given command of the landing boats, known as ''Beetles''. He was the first to report on the landing to the corps commander, Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Stopford, and advised against landing further troops inside Suvla Bay due to the darkness and reefs. Unwin was back at Suvla as Naval Transport Officer for the evacuation in December – he was aboard the last boat to leave the beach. When a soldier fell overboard, Unwin dived in to rescue him. Observing this act, General

Julian Byng Field Marshal Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, (11 September 1862 – 6 June 1935) was a British Army officer who served as Governor General of Canada, the 12th since the Canadian Confederation. Known to friends as "Bun ...

, the new IX Corps commander, remarked to Commodore

Roger Keyes Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, (4 October 1872 – 26 December 1945) was a British naval officer. As a junior officer he served in a corvette operating from Zanzibar on slavery suppression missions. Ea ...

: "You really must do something about Unwin. You should send him home; we want several little Unwins." In 1916 Unwin took command of and in 1917 became Naval Transport Officer, Egypt. He later achieved the rank of

commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

Later life

Commander Edward UNWIN, VC RN - Memorial in Hythe, Hampshire

Unwin died on 19 April 1950 and is buried in Grayshott,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. His Victoria Cross has been loaned by his family to the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

, London, where it is on display. A memorial to Edward Unwin was unveiled in

Hythe, Hampshire Hythe () is a town near Southampton, Hampshire, England. It is located by the shore of Southampton Water, and has a ferry service connecting it to Southampton. Hythe has a small shopping area, a pier, and a marina for yachts. History The name ...

(close to his birthplace) on 11 May 2015 with details of the action in which he was awarded his VC.

References

External links

www.victoriacross.org.uk – Edward Unwin, VC
''(Surrey)'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Unwin, Edwin Military personnel from Hampshire Royal Navy officers Burials in Hampshire British Gallipoli campaign recipients of the Victoria Cross Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 1864 births 1950 deaths People from New Forest District Royal Navy recipients of the Victoria Cross Royal Navy officers of World War I Royal Navy personnel of the Second Boer War Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur British military personnel of the Benin Expedition of 1897