Gordon village plans memorial to brave captain who died 100 years ago today

Born on December 5, 1893, the only son of farmer and auctioneer Robert Henderson and Mary Henderson of Mounthooly in Jedburgh, George Stuart Henderson.

Serving in the First World War in the 2nd Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, he assumed command after his company commander and other senior officers dies near Ypres in Belgium in April 1915 – where he was awarded the Military Cross – and became temporary captain the following May.

During that conflict, he was awarded the Distiguished Service Order, to which a bar was later added. By the end of the war he was mentioned in dispatches five times.

In 1920, he and his company were guarding positions near HIllah-Al-Hillah. the site of ancient Babylon, following uprisings there.

On July 24, the company under his command was ordered to retire, when they came under fire from a large party of Arabs, splitting the party up.

An extract of his eulogy on the vconline website tells what happened next.

It reads: “Regardless of all danger, Capt. Henderson at once reorganised the company, led them gallantly to the attack and drove off the enemy.

“On two further occasions this officer led his men to charge the Arabs with the bayonet and forced them to retire.

“At one time, wnen the situation was extremely critical and the troops and transport were getting out of hand, Capt. Henderson, by sheer pluck and coolness, steadied his command, prevented the company from being cut up and saved the situation.

“During the second charge he fell wounded, but refused to leave his command, and just as the company reached the trench they were making for he was again wounded.

“Realising that he could do no more, he asked one of his non-commissioned officers to hold him up on the embankment, saying, ‘I’m, done now, don’t let them beat you.’

“He died fighting.”

Captain Henderson is commemorated on the Basra War Memorial, Iraq, and on the Jedburgh War Memorial.

His medals including the VC, DSO and Bar, MC, 1914 Star with Mons clasp, British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19 with Mentioned in Despatches oakleaf and General Service Medal 1908-56 with Mentioned in Despatches oakleaf and clasp for Iraq, were originally loaned by the family to the King’s Regiment which was formed in 1968 from the amalgamation of the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment and The Manchester Regiment.

In December 2009, the family decided to loan his Victoria Cross medal group to The Manchester Regiment Museum, located in Ashton-under-Lyne.

And now another memorial is planned in his home village.

Chairman of Gordon and Westruther Community Council, Douglas Tweedie, said: “It is the intention of the community council to lay a paving stone in Gordon village in memory of this decorated soldier who lived in our community at the turn of last century.”