Alfred Wilcox VC

b. 16/12/1884 Birmingham. d. 30/03/1954 Birmingham.

Alfred Wilcox (1884-1954) was born on 16th December 1884 at Tower Road, Back 150 Witton Street, off Lozells Road, Aston, Birmingham. His father, William, was a goldsmith, who married Sarah Ann Walker, on 4th November 1872 at Bishop Ryder Church, Birmingham. She was a machine feeder in 1871. Alfred would be one of fourteen children.

Alfred was educated at Burlington Street School, Aston. While a teenager, he was reported to be the only spectator at a circus to take up a lion tamer’s offer to enter the cage with him. He became a diamond mounter for E. Durban & Co, Frederick Street, Aston, before working in Liverpool from c. 1906 and later in London. He was living with his future sister-in-law, Gertrude James, in Leytonstone, Essex by 1911.

Alfred married Ellen Louise Clarke on 6th September 1913 at St John’s Church, Perry Barr, West Bromwich. She was a switch maker. She and Alfred had three children – Doris, Leonard and Douglas. He would later had another child – Vincent, with another woman.

Alfred enlisted in 1st Volunteer Battalion, Royal Warwickshire in Birmingham in 1902. He is believed to have continued serving between 1906 and 1909 in another Territorial Force unit in Liverpool and rose to the rank of corporal. On 25th March 1915 he enlisted in 2/1st Buckinghamshire Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He later transferred to 2/4th Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and went to France on 18th December 1917. He was promoted to lance corporal in April 1918.

Alfred Wilcox VC

Lance Corporal Alfred Wilcox was a member of the 2 / 4th Bn, Ox & Bucks Light Infantry which arrived at Laventie, south-west of Armentieres on 11th September 1918. The enemy was holding the line called the Picantin – Junction Post and the Battalion was ordered forward to attempt to hold an outpost line that was to the north-east of the town. Headquarters was established in a former dressing station in Laventie, a house of pretentious size, which had not been destroyed by enemy artillery.

The Battalion was ordered to attack Junction Post the following day, the 12th September. The post was a grass-bound breastwork, where the enemy offered strong resistance, the attack being carried out in driving rain. It was here that Alfred Wilcox gained the Victoria Cross.

On 12th September 1918 near Laventie, France, when his company was held up by enemy machine-gun fire at short range, Lance-Corporal Wilcox rushed to the nearest enemy gun, bombing it and killing the gunner. Being then attacked by an enemy bombing party, the corporal picked up enemy stick bombs and led his company against the next gun, finally capturing and destroying it. Then, left with only one man he continued bombing and captured a third gun. Going up the trench, bombing as he went, he captured a fourth gun and then returned to his platoon.

He was promoted to corporal in September. On 2nd November he was wounded in the right ankle by a machine gun bullet at St Hubert and was evacuated to Britain, where he was treated at a war hospital in Sunderland. He was discharged from hospital on leave on 19th December.

He was gazetted for the VC on 15th November 1918, but it was over a year later, on 26th November 1919 that he was invested with the medal by King George V at Buckingham Palace.

Alfred was a keen swimmer, long distance walker and footballer. He was a member of Birchfield Harriers Athletic Club in Perry Barr. He was President of the Birmingham County Branch of the British Legion and of the Twickenham British Legion in the 1930s, resigning when he returned to Birmingham in January 1939. He was also a Freemason, a member of Lodge of Israel No 1474.

After discharge from the Army, Alfred Wilcox attended many reunions of Victoria Cross holders, including the 1920 Afternoon Garden Party and the 1929 VC Reunion Dinner in the House of Lords. Alfred became landlord of the Trafalgar Hotel, Trafalgar Road, Moseley, Birmingham in 1942. He was landlord of the Old Engine, Hockley from 1946 and the Prince Arthur in Small Heath from 1950 until his death.

Alfred died at his home, 31 Arthur Street, Small Heath on 30th March 1954. He was buried in St Peter & St Paul Churchyard, Aston on 3rd April 1954 in an unmarked grave. A local historian, Chris Sutton, traced Alfred’s nephew, John Wilcox, who had attended his uncle’s funeral, and remembered the approximate location. As a result, a headstone was placed and dedicated on 12th September 2006.

Those relatives attending the ceremony included Alfred Wilcox’s son Vincent Nicholls, granddaughter Elaine Read and nephew John Wilcox. Elaine Read and General Sir Edward Jones, chairman of the Regimental Committee of the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry both laid a wreath on the base of the new headstone. The standard bearers in attendance were the National Service Veterans Association, the Birmingham and District Royal Artillery Association, South Staffrodshire County Royal British Legion, and the Federation of Ex-Servicemen.

Alfred is commemorated on the Birchfield Harriers Roll of Honour, with a VC commemorative stone outside the Hall of Memory, Centenary Square, Birmingham, on a memorial paving stone outside Freemason’s Hall, London, and on a plaque commemorating the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry unveiled in August 2019 on the campus of Oxford Brookes University.

His medals including the VC, British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19, King George VI Coronation Medal 1937, and Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953 were held on loan by the Royal Green Jackets Museum, Winchester, before in April 1999, they were sold at Spink’s, London for a hammer price of £48,000. They were purchased by Michael Ashcroft.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: LORD ASHCROFT COLLECTION.

BURIAL PLACE: ST PETER & ST PAUL CEMETERY, ASTON, BIRMINGHAM.

GRAVE 3995.