Sidney William Ware VC (11 November 1892 – 16 April 1916) was a British 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 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.

Details

Corporal Sidney William Ware, VC, was born in November 1892 at Whatcombe in the Parish of

Winterborne Whitechurch Winterborne Whitechurch, also Winterborne Whitchurch, is a village and civil parish in central Dorset, England, situated in a winterbourne valley on the A354 road on the Dorset Downs southwest of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the civi ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

. He was educated at the Church of England Boys' School, Whitchurch. He enlisted into the

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 ...

on 29 November 1911. He served with the 1st Battalion, the

Seaforth Highlanders The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw servic ...

(Ross-shire Buffs, Duke of Albany's) and was with his battalion at

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

in India at the start 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 ...

in 1914. His battalion, which was part of

Dehra Dun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislativ ...

Brigade of the

7th (Meerut) Division The 7th (Meerut) Division was an infantry division of the British Indian Army that saw active service during World War I. Pre-1857 The Meerut Division first appeared in the Indian Army List in 1829, under the command of Sir Jasper Nicolls, ...

, immediately returned to Europe with the

Indian Expeditionary Force A The British Indian Army, Indian Army during World War I was involved World War I. Over one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom 62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded. In total at least 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war. ...

and landed in France in October, where it was in action almost immediately. Corporal Ware was wounded in November and after ten days leave on discharge from hospital, he returned to France. His battalion remained with the same brigade, now re-titled the

19th (Dehra Dun) Brigade The 7th (Meerut) Division was an infantry division of the British Indian Army that saw active service during World War I. Pre-1857 The Meerut Division first appeared in the Indian Army List in 1829, under the command of Sir Jasper Nicolls, K ...

, still part of the 7th (Meerut) Division, with it he was sent to

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

. Here he was again wounded in January 1916, before returning to duty a few months later. It was then that he won his Victoria Cross on 6 April 1916. During an engagement when the order was given to withdraw to the safety of a communications trench, Corporal Ware, whose cool gallantry had been very marked during the advance, was one of the few men remaining unwounded. He then picked up a wounded man and carried him some 200 yards to cover and then returned for many others, moving to and fro under very heavy fire for more than two hours, until he had brought in all of the wounded and was completely exhausted. However, although he was not injured on this occasion, he was not to be presented with his Victoria Cross as, a few days later, on 10 April, he was seriously wounded and brought back to the Persian Gulf. He died at the Rawalpindi Hospital on 16 April and was buried in the

Amara War Cemetery The Amara War Cemetery is a First World War British military cemetery in Amara, now known as Amarah, southern Iraq, that is the responsibility of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). It contains more than 4,600 graves including three re ...

in Iraq.CWGC entry
/ref> He was always a very steady and trustworthy man who was very fond of football and reading. He was one of eight brothers of a family of 13, four of whom served in the First World War (Harold being the 4th) and one in the second (Douglas). Two were also killed in action, Sergeant A.C. Ware, Dorset Regiment, on 1 July 1916 and Private A. Ware,

Wiltshire Regiment The Wiltshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot and the 99th Duke of Edinburgh's (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot. The r ...

, on 11 March 1915.

The medal

His Victoria Cross is displayed a
The Highlanders Museum
(The Queen's Own Highlanders Collection), Fort George, Inverness-shire, Scotland.

References

Monuments to Courage David Charles Harvey (29 July 1946 – 4 March 2004) was a historian and author. He is notable for his seminal work, ''Monuments To Courage'', which documents the graves of almost all recipients of the Victoria Cross, a task that took him over 36 ...

(David Harvey, 1999) *

The Register of the Victoria Cross ''The Register of the Victoria Cross'' is a reference work that provides brief information on every Victoria Cross awarded until the publication date. Each entry provides a summary of the deed, along with a photograph of the recipient and the fol ...

(''This England'', 1997)
The Queen's Own Highlanders Association

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ware, Sidney Wil 1892 births 1916 deaths Ware, Sidney William British Army personnel of World War I Ware, Sidney William Ware, Sidney William People from West Dorset District British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Burials at Amara War Cemetery