David Reginald Younger 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....  (17 March 1871 - 11 July 1900) was a Scottish Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...  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. Quoting from North East Medals : Born on March 17, 1871, Captain Younger, after serving as an officer of the Duke of Edinburgh's Edinburgh Artillery, commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant into the Gordon Highlanders on December 23, 1893, fighting at Chitral and on the Punjab Frontier, 1895, 1897-8, including the gallant and historic assault and capture of the Dargai Heights, in October, 1897. The medal and three clasps (which can be seen in the photo above) were obtained by him for these trying services in India. But for his sad but heroic death, the Victoria Cross, as stated in the Gazette, would have been his to wear as well. It bas now been delivered to his relatives in accordance with the Regulation approved by H.M. The King in 1902.

Details

Younger was 29 years old, and a captain in the 1st Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders The Gordon Highlanders The Gordon Highlanders was a British Army infantry regiment from 1794 until 1994. The regiment took its name from the Clan Gordon and recruited principally from Aberdeen and the North-East of Scotland.-History:... , British Army 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 Second Boer War Second Boer War The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...  when the deed described below took place near Krugersdorp for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross (posthumously) after he died of injuries received during the Battle of Dwarsvlei on 11 July 1900: The Gordon Highlanders under Major-General Smith-Dorrien were orderd to march from Krugersdorp towards Hekpoot. About 15 km's from Krugersdorp they were encountered by a commando under Vecht-Generaal Oosthuizen who opened fire from mountain ridges above the road. The battle was fierce and it was only after dark that the British managed to extricate their guns, wagons and wounded and limped back to Krugersdorp. The engagement was described by Major-General Smith-Dorrien as their 'most trying fight of the whole war'. Younger's actions were described"

Items of Interest - Relating to Battles in the Same Area

William Eagleson Gordon

William Eagleson Gordon

Colonel William Eagleson Gordon VC CBE was a Scottish 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.-Details:...

 was awarded the VC for actions during the same engagement.

John Frederick MacKay

John Frederick MacKay

Lieutenant-Colonel John Frederick MacKay VC was a Scottish 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....

 who was awarded a VC for actions at Crows Nest Hill on 29th May 1900, was the man who "had dashed out from the safety of the right kopje, hoisted Captain Younger on his back, and carried him behind the left kopje under the concentrated fire of several hundred rifles."

Hugh Montague Trenchard was awarded the VC for actions during an engagement at the same location on 09 October 1900

In the Krugersdorp Cemetery, Captain Younger's headstone stands thirty paces away from the memorial stone to vecht-generaal Sarel Oosthuizen and his younger brother, korporaal Isak Johannes Oosthuizen (who died on 20 April 1902, a few days before the end of the war).

The battle of Dwarsvlei has also been referred to as Leeuhoek, Doornboschfontein and Onrus, all being names of farms in the area that the action took place on that day.

External links

• Capt David Reginald Younger. The Malvern Register, 1865-1904. 1905. pp 215.
• Northeastmedals.co.uk
• SA Military History http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol113js.html
• The Write Squad http://www.thewritesquad.co.za/Thingsthatcatchmyinterest/2ndAngloBoerWarWestRandVictoriaCross/tabid/69/Default.aspx