Bernard Vann
|
The Reverend Bernard William Vann |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
9 July 1887 Rushden, Northamptonshire, England |
| Died | 3 October 1918 (aged 31) Ramicourt, France |
| Buried at | Bellicourt British Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1914–1918 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Unit | The Sherwood Foresters |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
| Awards |
|
| Other work | Footballer |
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Playing position | Outside left, centre forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Hugglescote United | |||
| Irthlingborough Town | |||
| Northampton Town | |||
| 1906 | Burton United | 12 | (0) |
| 1906 | Derby County | 3 | (0) |
| 1907 | Leicester Fosse | 0 | (0) |
| Mansfield Wesleyans | |||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Lieutenant Colonel Bernard William Vann, VC, MC & Bar (9 July 1887 – 3 October 1918) 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. He was the only ordained clergyman of the Church of England to win the VC in the Great War as a combatant.
Vann was born in Rushden,Northamptonshire where his parents, Alfred George Collins Vann and Hannah Elizabeth Vann were teachers. He had an older brother, Arthur (1884–1915). He graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge and was a 1910 Cambridge hockey blue. He was a footballer who as a centre-forward assisted Northampton Town and in 1906 played 12 games for Burton United (who were then a League club) before making his three League appearances for Derby County in 1906–07. He also taught at Ashby-de-la-Zouch Grammar School in Leicestershire.
He was ordained as a priest in 1912 and became chaplain and assistant master at Wellingborough School (1913–15).
On the outbreak of war, he volunteered as a British Army chaplain but, frustrated by difficulties and delays, enlisted in the infantry instead, initially in 28th (County of London) Battalion of The London Regiment, (The Artists’ Rifles), and was commissioned into the 1/8th Bn, The Sherwood Foresters (The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) on 1 September 1914 and became Lieutenant on 26 April 1915.
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