BILLY McFADZEAN - V.C
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Private William (Billy) Frederick McFadzean 109th Infantry Brigade, 14th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles (Young Citizen Volunteers) For most conspicuous bravery near Thiepval Wood 1st July 1916 Age : 20 VC Publicly displayed at the Royal Ulster Rifles museum (Belfast, Northern Ireland) |
Billy McFadzean was born at Lurgan Co Armagh on October 9th 1895 the son of William McFadzean JP senior and Mrs McFadzean of
Rubicon, Cregagh, Belfast.
He was educated at Mountpottinger Boys School and later attended the Trade Preparatory School in Belfast, where he had been less
than a model pupil, having been reprimanded no less than thirty-four times for bad conduct in his second year. Billy was described as
"13 stones and six feet tall, a fine healthy young Ulsterman", and gained respect as a useful player with the Collegians Rugby Club.
After school he became an apprentice in the linen business with Spence, Brysin and Co. of Belfast at a wage of £20 per anunum. He
was also an enthusiastic member of the Young Citizen Volunteers, 1st battalion Ballynafeigh and Newtownbreda East Belfast Regiment.
He joined up for war service on September 22nd 1914 as a Private with the 14th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and on 5 October he along
with his Battalion made their crossing to France aboard an old Isle of Man paddle-steamer called the Empress Queen, where Billy
wrote to his family : "You people at home make me feel quite proud when you tell me 'I am the soldier boy of the McFadzeans.' I hope to
play the game and if I dont add much lustre to it, I certainly will not tarnish it."
T he night of June 30th 1916, Billy and his battalion found themselves in their assembly trenches at Elgin Avenue in Thiepval Wood. The
battalion war diary records, "heavy bombardment, great trouble in keeping the candle alight," In the trench Billy was singing his
favourite song "My little Grey Home in the West" and keeping his comrades spirits up with his jokes and banter.
Around 6.45am on the morning of July 1st 1916 as zero hour approaced to mark the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, the tragic
incident occurred. The bombardiers were particulary busy and Billy and his fellow grenadiers were making final preparations; boxes of
grenades were open and bombs were being handed out. Shells were dropping all around. Billy was opening a box, using a knife to cut
the cord around it, when the box tumbled off its shelf and two bombs split out and shed their pins. An explosion would rip through the
trench in a matter of seconds. Billy threw himself on thre ground, on top of the bombs, sheltering the rest of the men from the blast. He
was killed instantly, but his comrades were saved from death or serious injury - except one man who eventually was to lose a leg as a
result of his wounds. Billy's mutilated remains were placed on a stretcher and as they were being taken away, his fellow soldiers
instinctively removed their helmets, despite the ongoing bombardment and the flying shrapnel; many were in tears.
William McFadzean's Victoria Cross was gazetted on September 9th 1916 and once again his name is remembered on the Thiepval
Memorial for all those with no known grave.
His commanding officer Lieut Col F C Bowen wrote to Billy's father on September 16th.
"Dear Mr McFadzean,
It is with feelings of great pride that I read the announcement of the granting of the
VC to your gallant son and my only regret is that he was not spared to us to wear his
well-earned decoration.
It was one of the finest deeds of a war that is so full of big things and I can assure you that the whole battalion rejoiced when they
heard it. Your gallant boy, though gone from us, his deeds will forever live in our memories and the record will go down for all time in
the regimental history which he has added fresh and great lustre to." The family also received a letter from Buckingham Palace on
December 18th 1916.
"It is a matter of sincere regret to me that the death of Private McFadzean deprived me of the pride of personally conferring upon him
the Victoria Cross, the greatest of all rewards for valour and devotion to duty."
Signed George R I
Billy McFadzean's VC was the first to be won on that July day in 1916. Billy's father was given a third class rail ticket with which to
travel to London on February 28th 1917 where his sons Victoria Cross was presented to him by the king at Buckingham Palace.
"Nothing finer has been done in this war for which I have given a Victoria Cross than the act committed by your son to save many lives
in giving his own so heroically."
(The king's words to Billy's father.)
On Sunday 1 July 1917 in Newtownbreda Presbyterian Church, on the outskirts of Belfast, an afternoon service was held to pay
respects to the memory of Billy McFadzean in what had been his home church. A tablet was unveiled on which were the words:
'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends'.
The last Post was played, the congregation sang 'O God, our help in ages past' and the choir performed a beautiful anthem, a setting by
Woodward of Tennyson's poem 'Crossing the bar', which includes these lines :
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
The process of keeping alive the memory and significance of the Somme dead was maintained not only publicly but privately by the
families of the victims. Part of this process sometimes involved a search for a grave - impelled by a deep need to know some physical
location as the last resting place of the dead soldier. In 1920 the parents of Billy McFadzean were still trying desperately to find some
particular gavestone in the military cemeteries of the somme where their famous son might have been laid to rest.
Rubicon, Cregagh, Belfast.
He was educated at Mountpottinger Boys School and later attended the Trade Preparatory School in Belfast, where he had been less
than a model pupil, having been reprimanded no less than thirty-four times for bad conduct in his second year. Billy was described as
"13 stones and six feet tall, a fine healthy young Ulsterman", and gained respect as a useful player with the Collegians Rugby Club.
After school he became an apprentice in the linen business with Spence, Brysin and Co. of Belfast at a wage of £20 per anunum. He
was also an enthusiastic member of the Young Citizen Volunteers, 1st battalion Ballynafeigh and Newtownbreda East Belfast Regiment.
He joined up for war service on September 22nd 1914 as a Private with the 14th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and on 5 October he along
with his Battalion made their crossing to France aboard an old Isle of Man paddle-steamer called the Empress Queen, where Billy
wrote to his family : "You people at home make me feel quite proud when you tell me 'I am the soldier boy of the McFadzeans.' I hope to
play the game and if I dont add much lustre to it, I certainly will not tarnish it."
T he night of June 30th 1916, Billy and his battalion found themselves in their assembly trenches at Elgin Avenue in Thiepval Wood. The
battalion war diary records, "heavy bombardment, great trouble in keeping the candle alight," In the trench Billy was singing his
favourite song "My little Grey Home in the West" and keeping his comrades spirits up with his jokes and banter.
Around 6.45am on the morning of July 1st 1916 as zero hour approaced to mark the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, the tragic
incident occurred. The bombardiers were particulary busy and Billy and his fellow grenadiers were making final preparations; boxes of
grenades were open and bombs were being handed out. Shells were dropping all around. Billy was opening a box, using a knife to cut
the cord around it, when the box tumbled off its shelf and two bombs split out and shed their pins. An explosion would rip through the
trench in a matter of seconds. Billy threw himself on thre ground, on top of the bombs, sheltering the rest of the men from the blast. He
was killed instantly, but his comrades were saved from death or serious injury - except one man who eventually was to lose a leg as a
result of his wounds. Billy's mutilated remains were placed on a stretcher and as they were being taken away, his fellow soldiers
instinctively removed their helmets, despite the ongoing bombardment and the flying shrapnel; many were in tears.
William McFadzean's Victoria Cross was gazetted on September 9th 1916 and once again his name is remembered on the Thiepval
Memorial for all those with no known grave.
His commanding officer Lieut Col F C Bowen wrote to Billy's father on September 16th.
"Dear Mr McFadzean,
It is with feelings of great pride that I read the announcement of the granting of the
VC to your gallant son and my only regret is that he was not spared to us to wear his
well-earned decoration.
It was one of the finest deeds of a war that is so full of big things and I can assure you that the whole battalion rejoiced when they
heard it. Your gallant boy, though gone from us, his deeds will forever live in our memories and the record will go down for all time in
the regimental history which he has added fresh and great lustre to." The family also received a letter from Buckingham Palace on
December 18th 1916.
"It is a matter of sincere regret to me that the death of Private McFadzean deprived me of the pride of personally conferring upon him
the Victoria Cross, the greatest of all rewards for valour and devotion to duty."
Signed George R I
Billy McFadzean's VC was the first to be won on that July day in 1916. Billy's father was given a third class rail ticket with which to
travel to London on February 28th 1917 where his sons Victoria Cross was presented to him by the king at Buckingham Palace.
"Nothing finer has been done in this war for which I have given a Victoria Cross than the act committed by your son to save many lives
in giving his own so heroically."
(The king's words to Billy's father.)
On Sunday 1 July 1917 in Newtownbreda Presbyterian Church, on the outskirts of Belfast, an afternoon service was held to pay
respects to the memory of Billy McFadzean in what had been his home church. A tablet was unveiled on which were the words:
'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends'.
The last Post was played, the congregation sang 'O God, our help in ages past' and the choir performed a beautiful anthem, a setting by
Woodward of Tennyson's poem 'Crossing the bar', which includes these lines :
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
The process of keeping alive the memory and significance of the Somme dead was maintained not only publicly but privately by the
families of the victims. Part of this process sometimes involved a search for a grave - impelled by a deep need to know some physical
location as the last resting place of the dead soldier. In 1920 the parents of Billy McFadzean were still trying desperately to find some
particular gavestone in the military cemeteries of the somme where their famous son might have been laid to rest.
| At the going down of the sun, and in the morning WE WILL REMEMBER HIM |
| THE STORY OF BILLY McFADZEAN V.C |