Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Great War Victoria Cross group of eight awarded to Corporal Issy Smith, 1st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, the first Jewish N.C.O. to be so honoured

Victoria Cross, reverse centre inscribed “26 April 1915”, the reverse of the suspension bar inscribed “Act. Corpl. I. Smith, 1st. Bn. Manchester Regt.”; 1914-15 Star (168 A.Cpl., Manch.R.); British War and Victory Medals (168 Sjt., Manch.R.); Delhi Durbar 1911, named, this a contemporary tailor’s copy as worn by the recipient; Coronation 1937; France, Croix de Guerre, with bronze palm; Russia, Silver Cross of St. George, 4th class, the reverse numbered ‘127 234’, contact wear but generally nearly very fine (8)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the Manchester Regiment.

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Victoria Cross London Gazette 23 August, 1915: Issy Smith, Acting Corporal, 1st Battn. The Manchester Regiment. Date of Act of Bravery: 26 April, 1915. “For most conspicuous bravery on the 26 April, 1915, near Ypres, when he left his company on his own initiative, and went well forward to the enemy’s position to assist a severely wounded man, whom he carried a distance of 250 yards into safety, whilst exposed the whole time to heavy machine-gun and rifle fire.
Subsequently Corporal Smith displayed great gallantry, when the casualties were very heavy, in voluntarily assisting to bring in many more wounded men throughout the day and attending to them with the greatest devotion to duty regardless of personal risk.”

Issy Smith, the first Jewish N.C.O. to be awarded the Victoria Cross, was born in East London on 16 September, 1886, and attended the Berner Street L.C.C. School. A pre-war regular, he joined the 2nd Battalion, The Manchester Regiment at St George’s Barracks, London, and subsequently served in Africa and India. He was a useful performer in the ring and became the champion middle-weight boxer of the 1st Battalion, participating in the Army boxing competition held during the Delhi Durbar in 1911. He left the Army the next year and by the outbreak of the Great War was living in Australia, where he boxed under the name of Jack Daniels. He immediately joined up at the St Kilda Road Barracks, Melbourne, in August 1914, and was present with the Australian Contingent the following month at the capture of German possessions in New Guinea.

However, as a British Army Reservist he was obliged to rejoin the colours of the 1st Manchesters, then serving in the Jullundur Brigade, 3rd Lahore Division, and duly proceeded to France in H.M.A.S. Sydney. He arrived on the Western Front with the Indian Contingent, and was among the substantial number of Manchesters wounded at Givenchy on 24 December, 1914. He was again wounded on 11 March, 1915, at Neuve Chapelle, and performed the deed which secured him the Victoria Cross on 26 April, 1915, at St Julien, Belgium, during the Second Battle of Ypres in an attack by the battalion through a ‘perfect inferno of fire of all kinds, machine gun, rifle, and every variety of shell, many of which were filled with gas’.

Sergeant Rooke, one of the 233 casualties suffered by the batalion on that day and one of the men rescued by Smith, later gave the following account of his experiences: “It was in the afternoon of that day when we opened out for attack, our objective being the Ferme de St Julien. There had been an artillery preparation of about 40 minutes duration, but when we got under way we were greeted with heavy fire from the German trenches. During the attack I was shot through the liver and was quite helpless. Smith at once ran out to my rescue, put me on his back and carried me through a terrific hail of shrapnel, rifle and machine gun fire into the Ypres road. I was lying only 200 yards from the German trenches and the fact that Smith escaped being hit was a sheer miracle. Just at that time the Germans turned on the poison gas, and the Algerians, who were on our left, began to retire. We were again in a most exposed position, and Lieut W.M. Shipster, who passed us, told Smith to put me down and said he would send me assistance. The officer had only gone a few yards when he was shot through the neck. Smith went to him, bandaged his wounds - all this time under heavy fire - and carried him, and afterwards me, into the trenches of the 4th Suffolks. He then helped to take me on a stretcher to the first-aid post of the Suffolks and afterwards returned immediately to fight on with his battalion. Smith behaved with wonderful coolness and presence of mind the whole time and no man ever deserved a V.C. more thoroughly than he does.”

In early May, Smith was gassed and evacuated to the Dublin University V.A.D. Auxiliary Hospital, where he was recuperating when he learnt of his award of the Victoria Cross. He immediately became a celebrity in the city and was accorded a reception given in his honour at the Dublin Mansion House. On 26 August, 1915, Smith was among eleven V.C.’s honoured by the Tsar, when he was awarded the Order of St George, 4th class. Passed fit, Smith was next employed in a recruiting campaign and toured several northern cities giving speeches in theatres and music halls. He was strongly opposed to conscription and publicly repudiated the popular belief amongst his co-religionists that Jews were badly treated in the Army and did much to encourage Jews to enlist. Returning to active duty, Smith served in Mesopotamia, the ship in which he travelled being torpedoed on the way out, and was again wounded in March 1917, at Baghdad. He was demobilised in 1919 and was variously employed as an actor, a music hall manager, and a salesman with a Bethnall Green firm dealing in cylce accessories and rubber goods. However, he fell ill in London and being unable to work was obliged to pawn his V.C. for £20. The wife of the then Chief Rabbi, Mrs Hertz, learnt of his plight and raised twelve subscriptions of £10 each, and presented the entire sum to Smith. His medals, in the meantime, were bought by the Jewish Historical Society and placed in the Mocatta Library, University College London, with the proviso that Smith could redeem them at any time on the payment of £20.

He returned to Australia with his V.C. in the 1920’s, and worked latterly for the Civil Aviation Department as the control officer at Essendon Airport. He served as a J.P. and sat on the Melbourne City Court Bench for a number of years. He also dabbled in politics and unsuccessfully contested the Melbourne seat for the House of Representatives. Issy Smith V.C., ‘The Pride of the Hebrew Race’, died on 11 September, 1940, at his home in Moonee Ponds, and was buried with full military honours in the Fawkner Cemetery, Victoria, Australia.

The lot is sold with a copy of an album of news cuttings, photographs and documents compiled by his Sister, and photographs of his grave.