Clifford Coffin
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Clifford Coffin
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|---|---|
| File:VCCliffordCoffin.jpg
Major General Clifford Coffin
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| Born | 10 February 1870 Blackheath, London, England, |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Torquay, Devon, England |
| Buried |
Holy Trinity Churchyard, Colemans Hatch, East Sussex
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| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/ |
 British Army |
| Years of service | 1888 - 1924 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Unit | Royal Engineers |
| Commands held | 25th Infantry Brigade |
| Battles/wars | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
| Awards | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
| Relations | Isaac Coffin (father) |
Major General Clifford Coffin VC, CB, DSO & Bar (10 February 1870 – 4 February 1959) was an officer in the British Army and was a 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.
Born in Blackheath, the son of Lieutenant General Sir Isaac Coffin. He was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers. He served in the Second Boer War and was mentioned in dispatches.
He was 47 years old, and a temporary brigadier general, Commanding the 25th Infantry Brigade during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 31 July 1917 in Westhoek, Belgium, when his command was held up in attack owing to heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, Brigadier-General Coffin went forward and made an inspection of his front posts. Although under the heaviest fire from both machine-guns and rifles and in full view of the enemy, he showed an utter disregard of personal danger, walking quietly from shell-hole to shell-hole, giving advice and cheering his men by his presence. His gallant conduct had the greatest effect on all ranks and it was largely owing to his personal courage and example that the shell-hole line was held.[1]
He served as Commander-in-Chief, Ceylon and ADC to King George V. He later achieved the rank of major general and was Colonel Commandant Royal Engineers. During World War II he was the chairman of the executive council of the British Empire Service League and Temporary Major General with the 36th Ulster Division.[citation needed]
He died in February 1959 and is buried at Holy Trinity Churchyard, Colemans Hatch, East Sussex. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham, Kent. In 2012, his grave was renovated by the Victoria Cross Trust.[2]
References
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 30284. p. 9531. 14 September 1917. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- The Sapper VCs (Gerald Napier, 1998)
- VCs of the First World War - Passchendaele 1917 (Stephen Snelling, 1998)
External links
- Royal Engineers Museum Sappers VCs
- Location of grave and VC medal (East Sussex)
- Clifford Coffin at Find a Grave
| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by
F. A. MacFarlan
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Commander-in-Chief, Ceylon 1920-1924 |
Succeeded by H. W. Higgingson |
- Use dmy dates from April 2012
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015
- 1870 births
- 1959 deaths
- People from Blackheath, London
- British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross
- Royal Engineers officers
- British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
- British Army generals of World War I
- Companions of the Order of the Bath
- Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
- Recipients of the Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order and Bar
- British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross
