John Spencer Dunville VC (1896-1917)

John Spencer Dunville VC (1896-1917) Second Lieutenant, 1st Royal Dragoons

Second Lieutenant John Spencer Dunville VC (1896-1917) was educated at Ludgrove School and at Eton, where he was a member of Mr Williams's House and then Mr. Robeson's House, and a member of the Officer Training Corps from May 1912 to July 1914. He passed matriculation for Trinity College, Cambridge, but joined the army instead, initially serving as a Second Lieutenant in the Fifth Reserve Regiment of Cavalry. In April 1915 he applied to join the Royal Flying Corps and was accepted, but his course of instruction in aviation was cancelled a few days before he was due to start. He transferred to the Sixth (Inniskilling) Dragoons and went to France in June 1915. There he took part in the Battle of Loos in September 1915, and transferred to the First Royal Dragoons in January 1916. In April he contracted trench fever and was invalided to England. He returned to France in December.

In June 1917, while he was serving in the First Royal Dragoons, he died from wounds he received at Epehy in France. He was protecting an N.C.O. of the Royal Engineers who was cutting wire which had been laid by the enemy. Although he was wounded by the enemy's fire, he continued to direct his men until the wire-cutting operation had been successfully completed. He remained conscious but died from his wounds the next day. The Victoria Cross which he was posthumously awarded was received by his father John Dunville from King George V at Buckingham Palace in August 1917. He was also awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal 1914-20 and the Victory Medal 1914-19. A magnificent stained glass window in the grand entrance hall of Redburn House was one of several memorials dedicated to him.

John Spencer Dunville was buried at Villiers Faucon in France, but there is a stone in Holywood Graveyard to commemorate him. The inscription on the memorial stone reads 'To commemorate John Spencer Dunville, V.C., 2nd Lieut. Royal Dragoons, second son of John and Violet Dunville; he gave his life for his country in the Great War and died of his wounds in France on 27th June 1917 aged 21 years, buried at Villiers Faucon, was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery. Let those who come after see to it that his memory is not forgotten.' Part of a ligustrum (privet) bush from his grave in France was planted next to the family grave in Holywood.

His Victoria Cross is on display at the Household Cavalry Museum in Windsor, Berkshire.

The top photograph was provided by Christopher Dunville, who is a great-grandson of John Spencer Dunville's elder brother Robert Lambart Dunville.

WEB SITE BY JILL HOLROYD AND MILES STEVEN DUMVILLE HOLROYD
LAST MODIFIED: 16 FEBRUARY 2005