chippingnortonjournal

Boer War hero may finally be honoured

HERO: George Ravenhill, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroic efforts during the Boer War.

A WAR hero who has lain in an unmarked grave for nearly a century could finally be honoured on a Cotswold memorial.
George Ravenhill, who lived in Rockhill, Chipping Norton, during the First World War, was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for his heroic efforts during the Boer War.
But when he left the Army in 1908 he and his family fell on hard times and he was imprisoned for stealing scrap metal as he could not pay the 10 shilling fine, and was stripped of his VC.
But after an impassioned campaign by the sister of Victoria Cross recipient James Collis, King George V decided to reinstate all forfeited VCs in 1920, saying “even if a man was hanged for murder, he should be allowed to wear his VC on the scaffold.”
Mr Ravenhill, who served in the Duke of Cornwall Fusiliers during the First World War, died in 1921 of heart disease, aged 49, and was buried in a Commonwealth grave in Birmingham.
Now the Victoria Cross Trust has started a campaign to get his name listed on Chipping Norton’s war memorial to ensure he is not forgotten. He is thought to be the only person from the town to ever be awarded the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy.

Gary Stapleton, chairman of the Victoria Cross Trust, said: “He was buried in a pauper’s grave in Birmingham.
The war department at the time stated anybody who died of disease or illness up to 1922 would be classed as war dead.
“We pointed it out to the town council that they would be quite justified to have this man added. He’s a VC recipient and did live in Chipping Norton and is classed as war dead. As far as we are aware, we don’t know of any other VC recipient from Chipping Norton. [He was] A man who lived in their town, joined the Army from their town and came back to that town.
“There’s a genuine reason why he should be on their war memorial. It’s up to them whether they put it on there.”
Steve Kingsford, liaison officer at Chipping Norton Royal British Legion, said he would bring it up at their AGM but they were largely in favour of the addition to the memorial.
“I think it would be good for the town,” he said.
“There were a few reservations – not that we don’t think he was a brave man – but that he died in 1921 sometime after the war of natural causes.”  Cotswold Journal.