Allegiance United Kingdom Name Charles Lavington Service/branch British Army Role Military officer | Years of service 1892 - 1914 Awards Victoria Cross Rank Major | |
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Born 14 March 1872
Madeley, Shropshire ( 1872-03-14 ) Buried at Stahnsdorf, Berlin, Germany Unit The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Died September 20, 1914, Germany Education Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Place of burial Stahnsdorf, Germany, Berlin, Germany Battles and wars Tirah Campaign, Second Boer War, World War I People also search for Harry Greenwood, Horace Waller | ||
Major Charles Allix Lavington Yate VC (14 March 1872 – 20 September 1914) 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.
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Yate, from Madeley, Shropshire, attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and joined the British Army. He saw service in British India, Mauritius, South Africa during the Second Boer War, as an observer during the Russo-Japanese War, and between 1908 and 1914 he was on the staff of the War Office in London.
Early life
Major Yate was born 14 March 1872 to the Reverend Prebendary George Edward Yate (1825–1908), the vicar of St Michael's Church, Madeley from 1859 to 1908.
Yate was educated at Weymouth College, and graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 9th out of 1,100 cadets. He joined the 2nd Battalion, the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on 13 August 1892 in Bombay. He first saw action in India in the Tirah expedition from 1897 to 1898, for which he was awarded the medal and clasp of the Tirah Expedition. He was seriously wounded during the Boer War.
On 17 September 1903 he married at St George's Church, Hanover Square, London, Florence Helena Brigg, from Greenhead Hall, Yorkshire. There were no children. His cousin was Sir Charles Yate, 1st Baronet.
He was promoted to the rank of major in 1912. Yate was fluent in French, German and Japanese, and could also speak Hindustani and Persian.
VC action
Yate was 42 years old, and a major in the 2nd Battalion, The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, during the First World War when the following deed took place during the battle of Le Cateau for which he was awarded the VC.
On 26 August 1914 at Le Cateau, France, Major Yate commanded one of the two companies that remained to the end in the trenches, and when all other officers had been killed or wounded and ammunition exhausted, he led his 19 survivors against the enemy in a charge.
He was captured by the Germans and interned in Targau prisoner of war camp. After repeated attempts, he escaped a month later on 19 September 1914, but was quickly apprehended by local factory workers who suspected his appearance, and cut his own throat to avoid recapture and possible execution as a spy. He died on 20 September 1914.
Four other VCs were won that day at Le Cateau, including one by Lance Corporal Frederick William Holmes, who wrote of Yate: Major Yate was a thorough gentleman and a great favourite with us all. He had had a lot of experience in the Far East and at home, and I am sure that if he had lived he would have become a general. He was always in front, and his constant cry was "Follow me!"
Yate is buried in grave II. G. 8. at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Berlin South-Western Cemetery in Stahnsdorf, near Potsdam, Germany. He is also listed on the parish war memorial, now on The Green, at Madeley, and within St Michael's Church, Madeley.
The medal
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Museum in the Doncaster Museum, England.