John Cunningham VC

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

, (born 1890 – 16 April 1917) was a British soldier

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 during the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 recipient of the Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

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

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 forces.

Details

Cunningham born in Thurles

Thurles

Thurles is a town situated in North Tipperary, Ireland. It is a civil parish in the historical barony of Eliogarty and is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly...

, County Tipperary

County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

 on 22 October 1890 was one of two sons of Johanna and Joseph Cunningham.

He was 26 years old, and a corporal

Corporal

Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....

 in the 2nd Battalion, Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment

Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment

The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foot...

, when he performed a deed on 12 April 1917 at Bois-en-Hache, near Barlin

Barlin

Barlin is a commune and seat of a canton in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A small ex-coal mining town, now a light engineering and farming commune, situated south of Béthune and southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D57, D179 and the D188...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 which earned him the Victoria Cross. Cunningham died later that day, as a result of his injuries.

Remarks

He is buried in Barlin cemetery, plot 1, row A, grave 39.

The medal is not publicly displayed.