William Harold Coltman VC DCM* MM*

b. 17/11/1891 Rangemore, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire. d. 29/06/1974 Burton on Trent, Staffordshire.

William Harold Coltman (1891-1974) was born on 17th November 1891 at Tattenhill Common, Rangemore, near Burton on Trent, Staffordshire. His father, Charles Coltman, was an agricultural labourer born at Hanbury, Staffordshire in 1851. He married Emma Green, born in Leicestershire, in 1870 in Penkridge, Staffordshire. Emma died due to complications in childbirth in 1880. Charles remarried to Annie Gopsill on 24th February 1881 at St Peter’s Church, Birmingham. After Charles died in 1903, Annie provided for her family by delivering milk by pony and trap. She married Frederick Bannister in 1909 in Burton on Trent. William had ten siblings from his father’s two marriages.

William H Coltman
VC DCM* MM*

He was educated at Rangemore Council School in Burton upon Trent between 1894 and 1904, where he had a reputation for being mischievous. He left school at 13 to be able to assist his family and was employed as a gardener at Bleak House, Ashby Road, Burton upon Trent by Colonel CJ Goer. He then worked as a gardener at Repton. On 8th January 1913 he married Eleanor May Dolman, a domestic servant living in Repton, at Burton Registry Office. They lived on Churchill Street, Winshill but then moved to 6 Wheatley Lane, Burton upon Trent where they lived for the rest of their lives. Eleanor died there in 1948. William and Eleanor were both members of the Plymouth Brethren non-conformist congregation and he became a Sunday School teacher at the Meeting House in Winshill. They had two children – Charles Henry and Dorothy.

He volunteered for the British Army in January 1915, a few months after the start of the Great War. He served in the North Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales’s) in the 1/6th Battalion. Due to his deep religious beliefs which made William unwilling to kill another man, he was permitted to become a stretcher-bearer.

The Battalion proceeded to Egypt in January 1916 and returned to France the following month. It was involved in the disastrous attack on Gommecourt on 1st July 1916 in which the Battalion suffered 305 casualties out of the 763 who went into action. William was noted for great gallantry that day but no award was made. The Battalion moved to the Ransart area, where he carried six wounded men in from the battlefield on his back. He was told of another casualty and went out to recover the wounded man under heavy fire. Later the same day he crawled out again under heavy machine gun fire to bring in three others. For this he was reported to have been mentioned in despatches but no record has been found.

He was awarded the Military Medal for his gallantry on 17th February 1917 near Monchy-le-Preux. An officer took advantage of misty conditions to take out a party to repair damaged wire in front of the Battalion’s trenches. The mist cleared suddenly and the party was fired upon. The officer sent the party back and was the last to withdraw. As he passed through the wire, he was shot through the thigh and fell. William immediately went to his assistance, and under heavy rifle fire, succeeded in bringing him in, placing himself between the officer and the enemy.

The Battalion then moved to the Lens sector. During a daylight operation to bomb the enemy’s deep dugouts, William was told to leave his platoon and proceed to the dugouts. He was caught by the blast of a German mortar bomb and, although his helmet was blown off, he escaped unscathed. He was promoted lance corporal in June 1917.

Less than six months later, in July 1917, he was awarded the DCM for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in evacuating wounded from the front line at great personal risk under shell fire. His gallant conduct undoubtedly saved many lives, and he continued throughout the night to search for wounded under shell and machine gun fire, and brought several in. His absolute indifference to danger had a most inspiring effect upon the rest of his men.”

Less than a month later, he was gazetted for a Bar to his Military Medal for his conduct behind enemy lines in June 1917. It also covered three separate incidents of gallantry. On 6th June an ammunition dump was hit by mortar fire causing several casualties, Coltman took responsibility for removing Verey lights from the dump. The following day he took a leading role in tending men injured when the company headquarters was mortared. A little over a week later, a trench tunnel collapsed trapping a number of men. Coltman organised a rescue party to dig the trapped men out.

Coltman continued to display incredible gallantry, all without firing a single shot. In the last couple of months of the war, he would add two more gallantry awards. In September 1918, he was to be awarded a Bar to his DCM for his actions near the St Quentin Canal, near Bellinglise on the 28th, when dressed and carried many wounded men under heavy artillery fire. During the advance on the following day he still remained at his work without rest or sleep, attending the wounded, taking no heed of either shell or machine-gun fire, and never resting until he was positive that our sector was clear of wounded. He set the highest example of fearlessness and devotion to duty to those with him.

He now had an extensive list of decorations but had not yet been awarded the VC which many believed that he deserved. Then, during the operations at Mannequin Hill, north-east of Sequehart, on the 3rd and 4th of October 1918, L.-Corp. Coltman, a stretcher bearer, hearing that wounded had been left behind during a retirement, went forward alone in the face of fierce enfilade fire, found the casualties, dressed them and on three successive occasions, carried comrades on his back to safety, thus saving their lives. This very gallant NCO tended the wounded unceasingly for 48 hours.

He was the most highly decorated other rank of the Great War. Despite his multiple decorations, he never caused another human being to suffer injury or death. He was demobilised on 12th March 1919 and was presented with his VC by King George V in the quadrangle at Buckingham Palace on 22nd May. He was a very modest man and on the way home from the investiture he heard that a reception committee had been formed to meet him. He slipped off the train at an earlier station and walked home. William was a member of the VC Guard at the interment of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey on 11th November 1920.

William was employed as a gardener by Mr and Mrs Yeomans in Ashby Road, Burton upon Trent. He was also a Special Constable with Staffordshire Police Force and became a lay preacher and later an overseer. During the Second World War he was commissioned in the Staffordshire ACF, and rose to captain by 1945. In the 1960s he was a groundsman for Burton Parks and Gardens at Wheatley Recreation Ground. He enjoyed beekeeping in his extensive garden at 6 Wheatley Lane, Winshill.

William attended a number of VC Reunions – the VC Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on 26th June 1920, the VC Dinner at the House of Lords on 9th November 1929, the Victory Day Celebrations at The Dorchester, London on 8th June 1946, the VC Centenary Celebrations at Hyde Park on 26th June 1956 and the first four VC and GC Association Reunions at the Cafe Royal, London in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964.

William died at Burton District Hospital Centre (Outwoods Branch) on 29th June 1974. He is buried with his wife in St Mark’s Churchyard, Winshill. The grave has been refurbished several times by the Victoria Cross Trust due to vandalism. He is commemorated with Coltman Close in Boley Park, the Coltman Trench at the Staffordshire Regiment Museum in Lichfield, on the North Staffordshire VC Memorial in the Garrison Church at Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, with Coltman VC Peace Wood in Winshill, and a VC commemorative stone placed at Stapenhill Gardens on 4th October 2018. There is also William Coltman Way in Tunstall, Stoke on Trent, a plaque in the Staffordshire Regiment Grove at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, and there is the Coltman Stretcher Race held annually over a ten mile course of the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire.

His medals, including his Victoria Cross, DCM*, MM*, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19 with Mentioned in Despatches oakleaf, Defence Medal 1939-45, King George VI Coronation Medal 1937, Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953, Special Constabulary Long Service Medal and French Croix de Guerre are on display at the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, at Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, Staffordshire, having been presented to them following his son, Charles’ death.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT MUSEUM, LICHFIELD, STAFFORDSHIRE.

BURIAL PLACE: ST MARK’S CHURCHYARD, WINSHILL, BURTON ON TRENT.