Major General Clifford Coffin, VC, CB, DSO & Bar

http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbcoffin.htm

Medal entitlement of Major General Clifford Coffin, Corps of Royal Engineers

• Victoria Cross
• Companion, Order of the Bath ( CB )
• Distinguished Service Order ( DSO ) & Bar
• Queens South Africa Medal ( 1899-1902 )

• 4 clasps:
  
• "Relief of Kimberley" - "Paardeberg" - "Dreifontein" - "Transvaal"
  * Kings South Africa Medal ( 1901-1902 )
• 2 clasps:
  
• "South Africa 1901" - "South Africa 1902"
  * 1914-15 Star

• British War Medal ( 1914-20 )
• Victory Medal ( 1914-19 ) + MiD Oakleaf
• King George VI Coronation Medal ( 1937 )
• Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal ( 1953 )
• Knight, Legion of Honour ( France )
• Croix de Guerre ( France )

Coffin, Clifford VC CB DSO

Dates: (1870 - 1959)

Local Connection: Born in Blackheath

War Service:

Brigadier-General. Corps of Royal Engineers, Commanding the 25th Infantry Brigade. Most of his pre-war service was in staff positions, though he did see considerable action in the South African War, for which he was mentioned in dispatches. His medals are on display at the Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham. He was award the South African Medals for 1901 and 1902 and claspses for Paardeberg, Dreifontein, Relief of Kimberley and Transvaal when serving with the Royal Engineer Regiment.

London Gazetted on 14th September 1917.

Digest of Citation for his Victoria Cross reads:

On 31st July, 1917 at Westhock, [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.

Victoria Cross

Major General Coffin also was a Companion of (the Order of) the Bath (CB) as well as being awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and Bar. He was the Aide de Camp to King George V from 1920-24. Was also Colonel-Commandant of the Royal Engineers, 1936-40. During World War Two he was the chairman of the executive council of the British Empire Service League and Temporary Major General with the 36th Ulster Division.

Location of Memorial:

He is commemorated on the Lewisham Shopping Centre Mural, no other memorial is known. He died on 4 February 1959 at Torquay, Devon. He is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Coleman’s Hatch, Sussex.

Details:

He was born on 10 February 1870 at Blackheath, the son of Lieutenant General Sir Isaac Campbell Coffin. He was educated at Haileybury College and the Royal Military College at Woolwich. In 1894 he married Helen Douglas Jackson (1869 - abt. 1949) and they had 1 son Godfrey (1898 - )

http://lewishamwarmemorials.wikidot.com/person:coffin-clifford

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.

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]

See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2230732/What-way-remember-V...