Billy Congreve

Major William "Billy" La Touche Congreve VC, DSO, MC (12 March 1891 – 20 July 1916) 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.

Life and career
He was at school at Summer Fields School, Oxford and then at Eton, leaving in 1907. On 1 June 1916 he married Pamela Cynthia Maude, the daughter of actors Cyril Maude and Winifred Emery.

Congreve was 25 years old, and a Major in The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

During the period 6 July to 20 July 1916 at Longueval, France, Major Congreve constantly inspired those round him by numerous acts of gallantry. As Brigade Major he not only conducted battalions up to their positions but when the Brigade headquarters was heavily shelled he went out with the medical officer to remove the wounded to places of safety, although he himself was suffering from gas and other shell effects. He went out again on a subsequent occasion tending the wounded under heavy shell fire. Finally, on returning to the front line to ascertain the position after an unsuccessful attack, he was shot and died instantly.

He was the son of General Sir Walter Norris Congreve, also a Victoria Cross awardee - they are one of only three father and son pairings to win a VC. His younger brother, Geoffrey, first of the Congreve baronets of Congreve, Staffordshire, was a distinguished sailor, awarded the DSO for a raid on Norway and killed in 1941 during a raid on the French coast.

His widow bore a posthumous daughter, Mary Gloria Congreve, born 21 March 1917. Pamela Congreve later remarried, to Brigadier the Hon. William Fraser, in 1919.

William Congreve's grave is at Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension, France, 9 miles east of Amiens, Plot I, Row F, Grave 35. There is also a memorial to him in the form of a plaque in Corbie church, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.



His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Green Jackets Museum, Winchester, England.