Role Armed force officer | Name Reginald Hart | |
 | ||
Place of burial Netherbury, United Kingdom Similar People Sher Ali Khan, Sam Browne, Frederick Roberts - 1st Earl R, James Lennox Dawson, Reg Varney | ||
General Sir Reginald Clare Hart (11 June 1848 – 18 October 1931), was an Irish 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.
Details
Hart was born at Scarriff, County Clare, son of Henry George Hart and educated at Cheltenham College. He was 30 years old, and a lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers, British Army during the Second Anglo-Afghan War when the following deed took place on 31 January 1879 in the Bazar Valley, Afghanistan, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross:
For his gallant conduct in risking his own life in endeavouring to save the life of a private soldier. The Lieutenant-General commanding the 2nd Division Peshawar Field Force, reports that when on convoy duty with that Force on 31st January, 1879, Lieutenant Hart, of the Royal Engineers, took the initiative in running some 1,200 yards to the rescue of a wounded Sowar of the 13th Bengal Lancers in a river bed exposed to the fire of the enemy, of unknown strength, from both flanks, and also from a party in the river bed. Lieutenant Hart reached the wounded Sowar, drove off the enemy, and brought him under cover with the aid of some soldiers who accompanied him on the way.
He later achieved the rank of general becoming General Officer Commanding Thames District in 1902. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey from 1914 to 1918. He died at Bournemouth, Dorset on 18 October 1931.
Sir Reginald Clare Hart's is buried in St Marys Churchyard, Netherbury, Dorset, England.