Donald
Fletcher GC
Donald Fletcher GC born in 1902 was
awarded the Edward VII Medal (Bronze) for Mines on the 10th September 1925 for an incident at CRESWELL Colliery, Derbyshire. This was subsequently exchanged for
the George Cross.
The citation details are taken from the book "The Edward Medal",
Private Publication, M. Kitchen 1996 :-
"London Gazette, 26 January 1926
His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleases to award the Edward Medal to
Donald Fletcher. A miner employed at the CRESSWELL COLLIERY, Derbyshire, in
the following circumstances:-
On September 10th 1925 a heavy fall took place at the Cresswell Colliery in Derbyshire
completely burying a miner named Cooper, some of the larger pieces of roof
became interlocked affording him some protection from the full weight of the
fall and thus preventing his being crushed to death. Efforts were made to
discover where Cooper lay and it was found that his head was near the edge of
the fall so that it was possible to free it from the debris. His
shoulders were next freed but his body and legs were held fast. The only
way in which Cooper could be extricated was that someone should crawl under the
debris and by working a passage alongside and over Cooper, and stone by stone
release him very gradually. Fletcher at once volunteered for this task
and was successful after two hours continuous work. Great patience and
skill was required and in the course of the work Fletcher's body was completely
under the fall with his head close to Cooper's feet. Throughout the
operation Fletcher was exposed to the risk of being crushed to death either by
a second fall or by a settling down of the first fall, and he performed his
task skillfully without regarding his own safety. Fletcher's action was a
very brave one involving great risk to his own life and, indeed, in the latter
stages of the work his position was more dangerous than Cooper's."
London Gazette, Page 616
The records also state that Fletcher exchanged his Edward Medal for a George Cross
sometime after 1940'
The Edward VII Medal
Instituted in July 1907, size 33mm.
Description:
(Obverse) the monarch's effigy; (reverse) a miner rescuing a stricken comrade,
with the caption "For Courage" across the top.
Designed by W. Reynolds-Stephens, funded by a
group of philanthropic individuals led by Mr A Hewlett, a leading mine owner.
Awarded
for life saving in mines and quarries, in two grades: first class (Silver) and
second class (Bronze). Medals were engraved with the names of the recipients
but, since the 1930's, the date of, and place of the action, were added.
Living recipients were invited to exchange their
medals for the George Cross in 1971. The last awards to living recipients were
made in 1949
Total number of Edward Medals (Mines) awarded:-
1st Class (Silver) - 77 (including 2 bars)
2nd Class (Bronze) - 320 (of which 64 were
awarded to rescuers at the Wellington Colliery Disaster in May 1910).
The George
Cross
Was instituted by Royal Warrant on the 24
September 1940. It was conceived by King George VI as the civilian equivalent
to the military Victoria Cross (VC). Awards of the GC to military personnel did
occur where the action for which the award was made was not necessarily covered
by an existing military honour.
The medal immediately replaced the Empire Gallantry Medal (EGM) and
all recipients of the EGM (and relatives of those awarded posthumously since
the outbreak of war) had their medals exchanged for the George Cross. The
Albert and Edward medals continued to be awarded until 1971 when surviving
holders of those medals were invited to exchange them for the GC.
Links: