Throughout the First World War, the many announcements of British and Commonwealth gallantry awards appeared in the various issues of The London Gazette. As part of our major monthly series covering the period of the Great War commemorations, we examine some of the actions involved and summarise all of the awards announced in December 1917.
OF THE ten Victoria Crosses gazetted in December 1917, three were awarded for actions undertaken during the fighting in Palestine – Major Alexander Malius Lafone VC, the subject of Lord Ashcroft’s article this month, is one of this trio. Of the remaining seven VCs, six were the result of the Third Battle of Ypres.
Though the offensive had begun on 31 July 1917, the village of Passchendaele, by which name the battle is also known, had remained stubbornly beyond the Allies’ reach. On 12 October a large attack was undertaken in a further effort to capture it. The attempt ended in failure with the loss of 13,000 men on that day alone. One of the casualties was 23-year-old Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries, 34th Battalion AIF.
Jeffries had been born on 26 October 1894 at Wallsend, New South Wales, the only child of Joshua Jeffries, a colliery manager, and his wife Barbara…
