Arthur Leyland Harrison | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1886-02-03)3 February 1886 Torquay,Devon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 23 April 1918(1918-04-23) (aged 32) Zeebrugge,Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service |  Royal Navy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Lieutenant-Commander | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unit | HMSLion HMSVindictive | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Battles / wars | World War I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards |  Victoria Cross Mentioned in dispatches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ---- Rugby player | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lieutenant-CommanderArthur Leyland Harrison,VC (3 February 1886 – 23 April 1918) was an EnglishRoyal Navy officer, andWorld War I recipient of theVictoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded toBritish andCommonwealth forces.
Harrison was born inTorquay,Devon, and educated atBrockhurst Preparatory School, where he is remembered every Armistice Day and atDover College. At school Harrison was a tremendous all-round games player and, whilst in the Navy, he playedrugby union and wascapped twice for theEngland national rugby union team.[2] He is the only England rugby union international to have been awarded the VC. Rugby league namesakeJack Harrison was also awarded the VC posthumously in 1917.
On 15 September 1902 he was posted as a naval cadet to thepre-dreadnought battleshipMars, serving in theChannel Squadron.[3] The following month it was reported that he would be lent to thearmoured cruiserGood Hope which was in the last stages of completion before her first commission in November.[4]
He served aboard the battlecruiserHMSLion for most of the war, seeing action at thebattle of Heligoland Bight in 1914 andbattle of Dogger Bank in 1915. He also saw action at theBattle of Jutland in 1916, and was mentioned in despatches[5]
TheZeebrugge Raid was an attack in April 1918 on the Belgian port of Zeebrugge to stop it being a base for German submarines. The raid was two actions: landing raiding parties on themole from the obsolete cruiserHMSVindictive and two ferries and the sinking of three old ships in the entrance of the harbour to block it.Vindictive was fitted with howitzers, flame-throwers and mortars so she could be used against the German defenders and as well as naval raiding parties carried two infantry companies of the 4th Battalion,Royal Marine Light Infantry .
The official citation for the award:
For most conspicuous gallantry at Zeebrugge on the night of the 22nd-23rd April, 1918. This officer was in immediate command of the Naval Storming Parties embarked in 'Vindictive'. Immediately before coming alongside the Mole Lieut.-Commander Harrison was struck on the head by a fragment of a shell which broke his jaw and knocked him senseless. Recovering consciousness he proceeded on to the Mole and took over command of his party, who were attacking the seaward end of the Mole. The silencing of the guns on the Mole head was of the first importance, and though in a position fully exposed to the enemy's machine-gun fire Lieut.-Commander Harrison gathered his men together and led them to the attack. He was killed at the head of his men, all of whom were either killed or wounded. Lieut.-Commander Harrison, though already severely wounded and undoubtedly in great pain, displayed indomitable resolution and courage of the highest order in pressing his attack, knowing as he did that any delay in silencing the guns might jeopardise the main object of the expedition, i.e., the blocking of the Zeebrugge-Bruges Canal.[6][7]
His body was never recovered. He, along with three others who were missing in action on the Zeebrugge raid, are commemorated on the Zeebrugge Memorial, at the Zeebrugge Churchyard. He is also commemorated by a brass plaque, mounted in the Warrior Chapel at St Mary's Wimbledon.[8]
George Bradford who led the raiding parties from the ferryIris II was also awarded a posthumous VC for his actions in the raid.[7]
His mother Adelaide Ellen Harrison, who lived in Wimbledon, London, received the VC and in 1967 relatives donated it to theBritannia Royal Naval College,Dartmouth, Devon where it is on public display.
