Remembrance - The Yorkshire Regiment, First World War

Private Henry TANDEY, VC

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For most conspicuous bravery and initiative during the capture of a village and the crossings at Marcoing and the subsequent counterattack on the 28th September 1918.   His platoon washeld up by machine-gun fire.   He at once crawled forward, located the machine gun with a Lewis gun team and knocked it out.   On arrival at the crossings he restored the plank bridge under a hail of bullets, thus enabling the first crossing to be made at this vital spot.   Later in the evening, during an attack, he, with eight comrades was surrounded by an overwhelming number of Germans and, though the position was apparently hopeless, he led a bayonet charge through them, fighting so fiercely that thirty seven of the enemy were driven into the hands of the remainder of his company.   Although twice wounded, he refused to leave until the fight was won. Private Henry Tandey, VC DCM MM

Henry Tandey, son of James Tandey, a soldier and stonemason, was born in Livery Street, Leamington, Warwickshire on 30th August 1891.   Henry, nicknamed 'Napper', spent part ofhis childhood in an orphanage and was educated at St. Peter's School, Leamington.   At the age of 18, he took the job of stoker/assistant engineer at the Regent Hotel, Leamington before joining the Green Howards in August 1910.
He served with the 2nd Battalion in South Africa and Guernsey before the outbreak of war in 1914.   9545 Private Tandey fought in the lst Battle of Ypres in October 1914.   A painting by Fortunino Matania, owned by the Green Howards, depicts Tandey carrying back a wounded comrade to the First Aid Post at the Menin Cross Roads or Petit Kruiseeke during this battle.   Two years later he was wounded in the leg during the Battle of the Somme in October 1916.   When discharged from a military hospital in England, he was transferred to the 3rd Battalion in Hartlepool and then to the 9th Battalion in Flanders.   He was wounded at Passchendaele in November 1917.
Once out of hospital, again he went to the 3rd Battalion for onward posting to join the 12th Battalion in France in March 1918.   When his unit was disbanded in July 1918 he was attached to the 5th DWR from 26th July to 4th October 1918.   It was at this time that 34506 Private Henry Tandey was awarded the DCM for determined bravery at Vaulx Vraucourt on 28th August, the MM for great heroism at Havrincourt on 12th September and the VC for conspicuous bravery at Marcoing on 28th September 1918.   The VC was announced in The London Gazette on 14th December 1918.   He was returned to hospital in England and discharged from the Green Howards on 1 st March 1919 and re-enlisted with the 3rd DWR at Halifax.
He was decorated by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 17th December 1919.   He was later employed on recruiting duties and on 4th February 1921 he was posted to the 2nd DWR with which he served in Gibraltar, Turkey and Egypt.   He was discharged from the army on 5th January 1926 with the rank of Sergeant.
Tandey returned to Leamington, married Edie Warwick in Coventry and got a job for the next 38 years with the Standard Motor Company mostly as a Commissionaire.   On the death of his first wife, he married Annie Kietzmann and retired in 1967, aged 76.   He died, aged 86 years, at 7 Loundon Avenue, Coventry on 20th December 1977. The funeral took place at the Church of Christ the King, Coventry followed by cremation at Canley Crematorium on 23rd December.   In May 1978 his ashes were buried by his nephew in Masnieres British Cemetery, Marcoing, close to where he won the VC in 1918.
His second wife, Annie, sold the medals for the record price of £27000 to a collector on 26th November 1980.   Sir Ernest Harrison OBE presented Tandey's VC and medals to the Regiment at a special ceremony in the Tower of London on Armistice Day 1997.   They are held in the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond.


Information on the medal holders on this page, and other pages relating to the regiment's WW1 VC holders, is taken from "Beyond Their Duty" by Roger Chapman.   This book was specialy written to commemorate the only occasion on which all 18 Victoria Crosses won by members of the Green Howards regiment were together (April to October 2001, in the Green Howards Museum).   The book may be purchased from the Green Howards Museum Shop.

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The following information on Henry Tandey can be found on Wikipedia;-

HENRY TANDEY Tandey enlisted into the Green Howards on 12 August 1910. After basic training he was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the regiment on 23 January 1911, serving with them in Guernsey and South Africa prior to the outbreak of the First World War I.

He took part in the Battle of Ypres in October 1914, and was wounded on 24 October 1916,at the Battle of the Somme. On discharge from hospital he was posted to the 3rd Battalion on 5 May 1917, before moving to the 9th Battalion on 11 June 1917. He was wounded a second time on 27 November 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele.

After his second period of hospital treatment he returned to the 3rdBattalion, on 23 January 1918, before being posted to the 12th Battalion on 15March 1918, where he remained until 26 July 1918. On 26 July 1918 Tandey transferred from the Green Howards to The Duke of Wellington's (West RidingRegiment).

He was posted to their 5th Battalion on 27 July 1918, where he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. On 28 August 1918, during the Second Battle of Cambrai, the 5th Battalion was in action to the west of the Canal du Nord. Tandey was in charge of one of several bombing parties on the German trenches. As the forward parties were being held up Tandey took two men and dashed across open ground (No Man's Land) under fire and bombed a trench. He returned with twenty prisoners.
This action led to the capture of the German positions and Tandey was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) on 5 December 1918, the citation read “34506 Pte. H. Tandey, 5th Bn., W. Rid. R.(T.F.) (Leamington). He was in charge of a reserve bombing party in action, and finding the advance temporarily held up, he called on two other men of his party, and working across the open in the rear of the enemy, he rushed a post, returning with twenty prisoners, having killed several of the enemy. He was an example of daring courage throughout the whole of the operations.

On 12 September, the 5th Battalion was involved in an attack at Havrincourt, whereTandey again distinguished himself. Having rescued several wounded men under fire the previous day,, Tandey again led a bombing party into the German trenches, returning with more prisoners. For this action Tandey was awarded the Military Medal (MM).

Tandey was 27 years old and a private in the 5th Battalion Duke of Wellington's(West Riding) Regiment when he performed the actions which earned him the Victoria Cross (VC). On 28 September 1918, during a counter-attack at the canal, following the capture of Marcoing, France, his platoon was stopped by machine-gun fire. Tandey crawled forward, located the gun position and with a Lewis gun team, silenced it. Reaching the canal crossing, he restored the plank bridge under heavy fire. In the evening, he and eight comrades were surrounded by an overwhelming number of the enemy. Tandey led a bayonet charge, fighting so fiercely that 37 of the enemy were driven into the hands of the remainder of his company. Although twice wounded, Tandey refused to leave until the fight was won, eventually going into hospital for the third time on 4 October 1918.
An eyewitness, Private H Lister, recounted the episode: On 28th September 1918 during the taking of the crossing over the Canal de St.Quentin at Marcoing, I was No.1 of the Lewis gun team of my platoon. I witnessed the whole of the gallantry of Private Tandey throughout the day. Under intensely heavy fire he crawled forward in the village when we were held up by the enemy and found where it was, and then led myself and comrades with the gun into a house from where we were able to bring Lewis gun fire on the MG and knock it out of action. Later when we got to the canal crossings and the bridge was down, Pte Tandey, under the fiercest of aimed MG fire went forward and replaced planks over the bad part of the bridge to enable us all to cross without delay, which would otherwise have ensued. On the same evening when we made another attack we were completely surrounded by Germans, and we thought the position might be lost. Pte Tandey, without hesitation, though he was twice wounded very nastily, took the leading part in our bayonet charge on the enemy, to get clear. Though absolutely faint he refused to leave us until we had completely finished our job, collected our prisoners and restored the line.

His VC was gazetted on 14 December 1918, the citation read:No. 34506 Pte. Henry Tandey, D.C.M., M.M., 5th Bn., W. Rid. R. (T.F.)(Leamington). For most conspicuous bravery and initiative during the capture of the village and the crossings at Marcoing, and the subsequent counter-attack on 28 September, 1918. When, during the advance on Marcoing, his platoon was held up by machine-gunfire, he at once crawled forward, located the machine gun, and, with a Lewis gun team, knocked it out. On arrival at the crossings he restored the plank bridge under a hail of bullets, thus enabling the first crossing to be made at this vital spot. Later in the evening, during an attack, he, with eight comrades, was surrounded byan overwhelming number of Germans, and though the position was apparently hopeless, he led a bayonet charge through them, fighting so fiercely that 37 of the enemy were driven into the hands of the remainder of his company. Although twice wounded, he refused to leave till the fight was won.

]In 1923, the Green Howards Regiment commissioned a painting from Fortunino Matania, showing a soldier purported to be Tandey carrying a wounded man at the Kruiseke Crossroads (northwest of Menin) in 1914. The painting was made from a sketch, provided to Matania by the regiment, based on an event at that crossroads. A building shown behind Tandey in the painting belonged to the Van Den Broucke family, to whom the regiment presented a copy of the painting.

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There was also an article in the "Independent" newspaper by Terry Deary on 8 October 2024 which explored the possible myth that Henry Tandey spared the life of Hitler.

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