Wilfred Dolby Fuller

Who was Wilfred Dolby Fuller?

Wilfred Dolby Fuller VC was an English 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 forces.

Fuller was born in Greasley, Nottinghamshire. When he was 21 years old, and a lance-corporal in the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, British Army during the First World War, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his acts on 12 March 1915 at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, France.

Lance-Corporal Fuller saw a party of the enemy trying to escape along a communication trench. He ran towards them and killed the leading man with a bomb; the remainder seeing no means of evading his bombs, all surrendered to him. Lance-Corporal Fuller was quite alone at the time.

He received his Victoria Cross from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 4 June 1915. In September of the same year, at the express wish of the Tsar of Russia, he was also decorated by the King at Sheffield with the Russian Cross of the Order of Saint George, 3rd Class.