
Our very own Chris Stevens attends the unveiling of his Great Grandad’s Victoria Cross statue in Maidenhead, England
A World War One memorial garden has opened in Maidenhead in honour of a soldier who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in France. Captain Thomas Tannatt Pryce of the Grenadier Guards was last seen on 13 April 1918 in a “fierce hand-to-hand struggle” at Vieux-Berquin.
According to the London Gazette in May 1918, he was awarded the VC for “most conspicuous bravery, devotion to duty, and self-sacrifice”. He led two platoons to attack a village, “killing some thirty of the enemy”. The following day his platoon was attacked “no less than four times”. By the end of the day he had 17 men left out of about 40, with no ammunition left, but Capt Pryce did not surrender, the report states. He was last seen “engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand struggle with overwhelming numbers of the enemy”.
Line One’s own Chris Stevens, the Great Grandson of Captain Pryce as well as a representative from the Grenadier Guards, were there to mark the opening of the WW1 VC memorial. Chris has recently started mapping out his extensive and prestigious family tree so was delighted to be able to add this chapter to the family’s history.
The memorial is part of a national scheme to award memorial stones to the birthplace towns of Victoria Cross holders.The council will receive the stone in 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of the awarding of Capt Pryce’s VC – it will be installed in the centre of the paving.
Royal Borough councillor Claire Stretton (Con, Boyn Hill), the council’s principal member for culture and communities, said: “Our leisure team has created a beautiful, peaceful garden with paving in the shape of a Victoria Cross.
“It makes a fitting tribute to the men who gave their lives for our country during the First World War.”