Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Edward Unwin, (20 April 1864 – 19 April 1950) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer and an English recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

forces.

Early life

Born in

Fawley, Hampshire Fawley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated in the New Forest on the western shore of the Solent, approximately south of Southampton. Fawley is also the site of Fawley Refinery, operated by ExxonMobil, which is ...

on 20 April 1864, Unwin joined the merchant navy at the age of 16 and spent 15 years serving on

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...

s with P&O. He trained at and joined the

on 16 October 1895 (part of the "Hungry Hundred", merchant mariners recruited to the Navy to fill a shortage of junior officers) and served in the

Benin Expedition The Benin Expedition of 1897 was a punitive expedition by a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British force of 1,200 men under Harry Rawson, Sir Harry Rawson. It came in response to the ambush and slaughter of a 250-strong party led ...

and the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

. In November 1901 he was appointed to to serve in HMS ''Forth'', but only five months later he was transferred in April 1902 to , serving in the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. He was lent to for service on that ship during the voyage to South Africa where the ''Monarch'' was stationed. Returning to the United Kingdom later the same year, he was early 1903 sent on a pilotage and compass course at RN College. Unwin retired in 1909 with the rank of

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

. He was recalled to the service on 29 July 1914, shortly before the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

First World War

Initially Unwin served aboard on the staff of Admiral

Sir John Jellicoe Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, (5 December 1859 – 20 November 1935) was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland ...

but in February 1915 he took command of the

torpedo gunboat In the late 19th century, torpedo gunboats were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were superseded by their more successful contemporaries, ...

which had operated as a despatch vessel for the Commander in Chief,

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and was now a

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

. In 1915, when planning began for the amphibious landing on the

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

peninsula, Unwin proposed beaching the 4,000 ton collier SS ''River Clyde'' on the narrow beach beneath

Sedd el Bahr Sedd el Bahr (, , meaning "Walls of the Sea") is a village in the Eceabat District, Çanakkale Province, Turkey. It is located at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. The village lies east of the cape, on the shore of the Dardanelle ...

Cape Helles Cape Helles is the rocky headland at the southwesternmost tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey. It was the scene of heavy fighting between Ottoman Turkish and British troops during the landing at Cape Helles at the beginning of the Gallipo ...

, known as

V Beach The landing at Cape Helles () was part of the Gallipoli campaign, the amphibious landings on the Gallipoli peninsula by British and French forces on 25 April 1915 during the First World War. Cape Helles, Helles, at the foot of the peninsula, wa ...

, thereby allowing 2,000 troops to be landed together. At the age of 51, Unwin was promoted to acting

and given command of the ''River Clyde'' for the operation. The ''River Clyde'' beached at 06:22 on 25 April 1915, and the plan called for a steam hopper to form a bridge from the ship to the shore. However, the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

current swept the hopper away so Unwin, accompanied by Able Seaman

William Charles Williams William Charles Williams VC (15 September 1880 – 25 April 1915) was a British 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 force ...

, who had served under him on the ''Hussar'' and had been ordered to stay by his side, dived overboard and manhandled two lighters into position, lashing them together to form the bridge. All the while Unwin was under fire from the Turkish defenders. When Williams was mortally wounded, Unwin went to his aid and the lighter he was holding was swept away. Unwin collapsed from cold and exhaustion, his place being taken by other men. After an hour of rest, he returned to the lighters until he was wounded and collapsed again. Once the attempts to land had ceased, Unwin went out a third time to attempt to recover wounded from the beach; according to one account he retrieved seven men. For his actions, he was awarded the

. The citation read: VCEdwardUnwin

In August, when a new landing was to be made by the British IX Corps at

Suvla View of Suvla from Battleship Hill Suvla () is a bay on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in European Turkey, south of the Gulf of Saros. On 6 August 1915, it was the site for the Landing at Suvla Bay by the British IX Corps as par ...

as part of the

Battle of Sari Bair The Battle of Sari Bair (), also known as the August Offensive (), represented the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. At the time of ...

, Unwin was given command of the landing boats, known as ''Beetles''. He was the first to report on the landing to the corps commander, Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Stopford, and advised against landing further troops inside Suvla Bay due to the darkness and reefs. Unwin was back at Suvla as Naval Transport Officer for the evacuation in December – he was aboard the last boat to leave the beach. When a soldier fell overboard, Unwin dived in to rescue him. Observing this act, Lieutenant General Sir Julian Byng, the new IX Corps commander, remarked to Commodore

Roger Keyes Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, (4 October 1872 – 26 December 1945) was a British naval officer. As a junior officer he served in a corvette operating from Zanzibar on slavery suppression missions. Earl ...

: In 1916 Unwin took command of and in 1917 became Naval Transport Officer, Egypt. He later achieved the rank of

commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (India), in India ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ' ...

Later life

Between 1937-1939, Unwin was a member of the national council of The Link, a pro-Nazi organisation. Unwin played little active part in the affairs of The Link, and instead provided prestige to the group, which presented itself as an organisation that all patriotic British people should rally to. Unwin died on 19 April 1950 and is buried in Grayshott,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. His Victoria Cross has been loaned by his family to the

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

, London, where it is on display. A memorial to Edward Unwin was unveiled in

Hythe, Hampshire Hythe () is a town in Hampshire, England. It is located by the shore of Southampton Water, and has a ferry service connecting it to Southampton. Hythe has a shopping area, a pier, and a marina for yachts. History The name Hythe means land ...

(close to his birthplace) on 11 May 2015 with details of the action in which he was awarded his VC.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

www.victoriacross.org.uk – Edward Unwin, VC
''(Surrey)'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Unwin, Edwin 1864 births 1950 deaths Military personnel from Hampshire Royal Navy captains Burials in Hampshire British Gallipoli campaign recipients of the Victoria Cross Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George People from New Forest District Royal Navy recipients of the Victoria Cross Royal Navy officers of World War I Royal Navy personnel of the Second Boer War Knights of the Legion of Honour British military personnel of the Benin Expedition of 1897 British Nazis