John Bredel Matthews M.C. - Died 1 October 1917
Monday 01 October 1917
Army Rank : CaptainRegiment: North Staffs Regiment attached to LeicestersBorn: 1891Died: 1st October 1917Age: 26 years Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.Son of Major Norman Henry Matthews, commemorated at the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, 9 km north-east of Ypres in Belgium. He is also commemorated at Hereford Cathedral School and Hereford Cathedral.The following has been taken from ‘Teddy Bear Tails to Itchy Tights’ – a history for Hereford Cathedral Prep School (now Hereford Cathedral Junior School), by Jill Howard-Jones. Our thanks to Jill for her permission to use the material.“John Bredel Matthews, born in 1891, was first and foremost a talented young architect. He came second in all England in the Royal Institute of British Architecture exam before he enlisted. He served with the 3rd Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment and was attached to the 8th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment. Indeed it was while he was commanding his company in the Leicestershire Regiment that he won the Military Cross for ‘conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty’. The London Gazette for 16 August 1917 records the incident. At a critical moment during an attack, when it was held up by enemy wire and under intense machine gun barrage, he rallied his men with great coolness and withdrew them to shelter. The skill with which he handled his men under extreme adverse circumstances undoubtedly saved many lives. The fact that his company had been reserved for a counter-attack and that he had to alter his plans at a moment’s notice in the attack, speaks volumes for the resource which he displayed at a critical moment.Seven weeks later, Captain Matthews was killed in action at Polygon Wood and subsequently commemorated with Lieutenant Britten and thousands of others at the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium, because he had no known grave.(Notes from “The Tigers” a book about the Leicestershire regiment by Matthew Richardson notes that a quote from the War Diary of the 8th Battalion for Oct 1st 1917 notes that “At 10.15am, Captain JB Matthews with left support company (D) moved from its position J 10a 8.2 in order to make a counter-attack against the enemy, holding the high ground in the vicinity of Joist Farm. Unfortunately, Captain JB Matthews MC was killed instantly by a sniper when making a reconnaissance, preparatory to the attack”)At home, the Royal Institute of British Architecture, conscious of his outstanding promise as a young architect, requested that the Mayor of Leicester publicly presented Captain Matthews’s parents with his Military Cross.