Robert Dunsire (24 November 1891 – 30 January 1916) was a Scottish 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 and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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. Dunsire was born in November 1891 to Thomas and Elizabeth Anderson Dunsire at

Buckhaven Buckhaven is a town on the east coast of Fife, Scotland, on the Firth of Forth between East Wemyss and Methil. Buckhaven is on the Fife Coastal Path, and near to Wemyss Caves and Largo Bay. History The name Buckhaven is probably from the ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

.Dunsire, Robert
Commonwealth War Graves Commission At the outbreak of war in 1914, Robert was a miner at the

Fife Coal Company The Fife Coal Company was formed in 1872 to acquire the small Beath and Blairadam Colliery with its pits in Kelty. Its head office was in Leven. In addition to coal, the company worked some ironstone. For the whole of its operating life, the com ...

's Rosie Pit and married to Catherine Pitt. He enlisted in January 1915 joining the 13th Battalion, The Royal Scots (The Lothian Regiment),

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. It was during 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 ...

when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC for his actions during the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

, on 26 September 1915.

Citation

He later achieved the rank of

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

. He was killed in action at

Mazingarbe Mazingarbe (; pcd, Mazingarpe) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. History The village was known as Masengarba in 1046, Masengarbe in 1232 and Mazengarbe in 1558. Mazingarbe's first inhabitan ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 30 January 1916 and is buried there. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Scots Museum,

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

, Scotland.

References

* François Caron, ''Robert Dunsire : une Victoria Cross à Mazingarbe'', bulletin du Comité Historique de Mazingarbe, n° 39, Mazingarbe, juin 2012.
Methil Heritage

External links

* 1891 births 1916 deaths British Army personnel of World War I British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross Royal Scots soldiers British military personnel killed in World War I People from Buckhaven British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Military personnel from Fife {{UK-army-bio-stub

Citation

References

Further reading

External links