Corporal George Jarratt VC - unveiling of VC plaque - 5 May 2017

[Moriaty]

On Friday 5 May 2017 between 1045 and 1115 there will be a formal ceremony in Kennington Park, south London to unveil the commemorative VC paving stone for Corporal George Jarratt, VC, of the 8th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment).  The nearest tube stations to the park are Kennington and Oval on the Northern Line. The exact site of the stone has not been confirmed, but it will be within the "heritage" park which runs along the Kennington Road.

 

Twenty five year old Corporal Jarratt won his VC cross on 3 May 1917 at Pelves in France.  The London Gazette dated 8th June, 1917 records the following:-"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion in deliberately sacrificing his life to save others. He had, together with some wounded men, been taken prisoner and placed under guard in a dug-out. The same evening the enemy were driven back by our troops, the leading infantrymen of which commenced to bomb the dug-outs. A grenade fell in the dugout, and without hesitation Cpl. Jarratt placed both feet on the grenade, the subsequent explosion blowing off both his legs. The wounded were later safely removed to our lines, but Cpl. Jarratt died before he could be removed. By this supreme act of self-sacrifice the lives of these wounded were saved."

 

Corporal Jarratt was born and brought up in Kennington, he worked as a junior clerk in a distillery.  He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Bay 3.  His name is also on the memorial outside St Mark's Church, opposite the Oval Tube Station.

 

His widow Gertrude and baby daughter Joyce when to Buckingham Palace on 21 July to receive the Victoria Cross from King George V.

 

The VC is now on display in the Royal Fusiliers Museum in the Tower of London.