Lt Colonel Best-Dunkley's V.C.

[Harry Flashman V.C.]

After reading Thomas Hope Floyd's "At Ypres with Best-Dunkley" what became of Lt Colonel Best-Dunkley's V.C. Is it in private or public ownership??

Also T.H.F mentions says sometime afterwards a photo entitled "Daddy's V.C." of a little baby being held in his mothers arms at Buckingham Palace while King George Vth pinned upon his frock the Victoria Cross, but doesn't mention the illustrated paper it was in.

Does anyione know which paper it was in??

[Sandie Hayes]

From First World War VCs:

Lieutenant Colonel Bertram Best Dunkley VC listed Alex Kaplan on 1 November 1982

I don't know very much about this but I think there's a spelling mistake here. Alec Kaplan sells medals in South Africa. Alex Kaplan takes photographs in New York.

[flintwich]

After reading Thomas Hope Floyd's "At Ypres with Best-Dunkley" what became of Lt Colonel Best-Dunkley's V.C. Is it in private or public ownership??

Also T.H.F mentions says sometime afterwards a photo entitled "Daddy's V.C." of a little baby being held in his mothers arms at Buckingham Palace while King George Vth pinned upon his frock the Victoria Cross, but doesn't mention the illustrated paper it was in.

Does anyione know which paper it was in??

Have recently read this book and found it particularly interesting.

I'm off to the salient in a fortnight and part of the trip is to visit the site of Fray Bentos tank, which is "Just across the road" from the site of Best-Dunkley's endeavours.

I got this book as a freebie ebook on the Gutenberg site. Have downloaded a few from there so far.

Al

[Mark Hone]

Floyd and his book have been the subject of or been mentioned in several previous forum threads. Best Dunkley had called in an artillery strike to break up the (inevitable) German counterattack on his position at Spree Farm and there is the possibility that he was fatally wounded by a Royal Artillery 'short'. Floyd wrote a follow-up to 'At Ypres...' covering the last few weeks of the war. It was never published apart from a shortened version in the LF Regimental magazine but it exists in manuscript form amongst Floyd's (voluminous) papers at the Lancashire Record Office in Preston.

I shall enquire at the LF Museum about the present location of Best-Dunkley's VC.

[little bob]

From . Victoria Cross Presentations and Locations. (2000) Dennis Pillinger and Anthony Staunton.

Best-Dunkley,Bertram R27000 Alex Kaplan 1 November 1982.

Best-Dunkley,Bertram R22500 Chimperie Agencies 1 August 1984.

Bob.

[Mark Hone]

Incidentally, if anyone sees a copy of the paperback 'From Messines to Third Ypres' by Floyd, please note that it is simply a handy modern reprint of 'At Ypres With Best-Dunkley' with what the publishers presumably thought was a catchier title. They don't seem to have really read the book, which has nothing to do with the Battle of Messines. I'm pretty sure that I've seen that 'Daddy's VC' photo. Is it perhaps in the article on Best-Dunkley in the Third Ypres volume of Gerald Gliddon's 'VCs of the First World War'? That is one book of the series that I don't own. I wonder what Best-Dunkley's family thought of Floyd's rather unflattering portrait of him?

[Harry Flashman V.C.]

Just finished the book last night a cracking read and also the book recounts some of the names of soldiers and officers killed. Found all of them bar one on the CWGC website

Was in Ypres a couple of weeks ago for the first time on an organised tour, it was very humbling but going back next year with the same mates and organising it ourselves instead.

[Ian Riley]

In my opinion, the book tells you more about Floyd than it does about Best Dunkley. He seems insufferable to me unless one was prepared to laugh at him; didn't even he admit that Best-Dunkley referred to him as 'The General' or something similar.

Ian

[Mark Hone]

I suspect that it was his later education at Manchester Grammar School that made him 'insufferable'. Only joking, MGS.

[Ian Riley]

On 15/05/2012 at 07:25, Mark Hone said:

I suspect that it was his later education at Manchester Grammar School that made him 'insufferable'. Only joking, MGS.

Ha! I have only just seen this - nine years late - having dared to take my 1920 original copy of At Ypres with Best-Dunkley  off the 55th Division shelves here to swot up on Brigadier-General Stockwell's treatment of the 2/5 LF on the march. 

Surprised that you didn't draw more fire from MGS. 

Ian

 

[gareth morris]

From “The complete Victoria Cross” updated 2015. 
VC is located at

Lancashire Fusiliers Museum, Arts & Crafts centre; Bury. Lancs. 

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

On 06/09/2021 at 19:13, Ian Riley said:

my 1920 original copy of At Ypres with Best-Dunkley  off the 55th Division shelves here to swot up on Brigadier-General Stockwell's treatment of the 2/5 LF on the march. 

@Ian Riley I have come even later to this thread, I'm afraid. I am familiar with "the march" from reading Floyd's book, and was shocked at how CSM N. Howarth was allowed effectively to march himself to death. My grandfather describes in his book the engagement in which Howarth won his DCM on Christmas Eve 1915, and he was clearly a very brave man.

I see that you refer to "the march" as if it was a well known incident. Were any lessons learnt from it? I was astonished to read in Floyd's account that the Army thought that men should not be allowed to drink while on a march, even in blazing hot conditions such as prevailed on that June day in 1917.