Cuthbert Bromley

Major Cuthbert Bromley VC (19 September 1878 – 13 August 1915) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Bromley was born on 19 September 1878 to Sir John Bromley CB and Lady Bromley, of Sutton Corner, Seaford, East Sussex.

He was 36 years old, and a temporary major in the 1st Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army during the First World War, and was awarded the VC for his actions on 25 April 1915, during the landings at W Beach, Gallipoli, Turkey, and during which he was wounded.

Citation
"On the 25th April, 1915, headquarters and three companies of the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers in effecting a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula to the West of Cape Helles, were met by very deadly fire from hidden machine guns, which caused a great number of casualties. The survivors, however, rushed up to and cut the wire entanglements, notwithstanding the terrific fire from the enemy, and after overcoming supreme difficulties, the cliffs were gained and the position maintained. Amongst the many very gallant officers and men engaged in this most hazardous undertaking, Captain Bromley, Serjeant Stubbs, and Corporal Grimshaw have been selected by their comrades as having performed the most signal acts of bravery and devotion to duty."

- The London Gazette, No. 29985, 15 March 1917

Bromley was wounded during the W Beach landing, and sustained a bullet injury to the knee on 28 April. He was wounded again during the Battle of Gully Ravine on 28 June, and was evacuated to Egypt to recover. On 13 August 1915, returning to the Gallipoli peninsula aboard the troopship HMT Royal Edward, he was killed when the ship was torpedoed in the Mediterranean between Alexandria and Gallipoli, by the SMU UB-14.

Major Bromley was one of the six members of the regiment elected for the award, one of the famous 'six VC's before breakfast'. Bromley is remembered in his home town of Seaford on the War Memorial, and on a brass memorial in St. Leonard's Church. A road in the town is also named after him.