Allan Leonard Lewis VC (28 February 1895 – 21 September 1918) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 forces.

Details

Lewis was born in

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

, but moved to South Wales to find work. On 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 ...

he was employed by the Great Western Railway as a bus driver at Neath. he joined up in March 1915. The GWR has no record of Lewis on its Rolls of Honour or War memorials, and it may be that he joined up without the company's agreement, and thus lost his post and pension rights. By September 1918 he was 23 years old, and a

lance-corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO), usually equi ...

in the 6th Battalion,

The Northamptonshire Regiment The Northamptonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1960. In 1960, it was amalgamated with the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment to form the 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's O ...

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 ...

during the same war when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. On 18 September 1918 at Rossnoy, near Lempire,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, Lance-Corporal Lewis was in command of a section on the right of the attacking line, held up by intense machine-gun fire. He saw that two guns were enfilading the line and crawled forward alone, successfully bombed the guns and by rifle fire made the whole team surrender. On 21 September he rushed his company through the enemy barrage, but was killed while getting his men under cover from heavy machine-gun fire.

Further information

Lance-Corporal Lewis is remembered on the Vis-en-Artois memorial near

Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, Haucourt The Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, Haucourt is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of World War I located between the Commune in France, communes of Vis-en-Artois and Haucourt (Pas-de-Calais), Haucourt in the ...

as he has no known grave.CWGC entry
/ref> The medal was handed to Lance-Corporal's Lewis's elder brother Frank by their mother. She made him promise that the medal would never be sold as she said that she lost a son, and she considered any profit from it would be blood money. Frank kept the medal in his home until his death. It was then agreed by the children of Frank that as he still had a brother, alive, he could hold the medal for his remaining days and then it was to be placed in a museum, either the regimental or local Hereford. When this brother died, the medal was assumed to be part of his estate and was kept by sole beneficiary of the will. Despite requests from Frank's close family, the medal was not returned and therefore not put into a museum. On the centenary of Lewis' sacrifice a number of events took place to honour him. On 18 September 2018 two plaques honouring Allan Lewis (one in English and one in Welsh) were unveiled at Neath Station, by his great niece, Dawn Lewis. The Railway Heritage Trust funded these plaques. On 21 September 2018, the exact centenary of his death, a bronze statue of Lewis was unveiled in Hereford's Old Market Shopping Centre. The statue was designed by Jemma Pearson, and was unveiled by Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire, The Dowager Countess of Darnley. The statue was funded by the A L Lewis VC Memorial Fund, the chair of which is Dawn Lewis. In addition to the statue, a memorial plaque was dedicated to Allan in the Lady Arbour at Hereford Cathedral. At about the same time the modern Great Western Railway named one of its new InterCity bi-mode trains after Allan Lewis, recognizing him despite the predecessor company having not done so.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Allan Leonard 1895 births 1918 deaths Northamptonshire Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of World War I British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross British military personnel killed in World War I People from Herefordshire British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Burials at Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, Haucourt Military personnel from Herefordshire