Lieutenant-Colonel John Sherwood-Kelly (13 January 1880 – 18 August 1931) was a South African 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. The four-times-wounded Kelly was not a Regular officer but a formidable and experienced commander with a combat record going back to the 1896 Matabele Revolt.
During his military career he achieved fame and notoriety for his mixture of heroic exploits and explosive temperament. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his exploits in Gallipoli in February 1916 and on 1 January 1917 was awarded the Companion of St Michael and St George (CMG). During the summer and autumn of 1917 he commanded 1st Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was instrumental in the early success achieved during the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November for which he received the Victoria Cross from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 23 January 1918. Kelly was gassed and wounded at various times.
Early life Sherwood-Kelly was born in Queenstown in the Cape Colony (modern Eastern Cape province) to an Anglo (English-speaking) family. His father, James Kelly, was born in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland and settled in South Africa after serving in the British Army. His mother, Elizabeth Didcott, was born in Winchester, Hampshire and followed her husband to South Africa when he purchased a farm on the veld in the early 1870s. James Kelly served in the para-military Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, and as such the Kelly family was itinerant, moving about from one place to another in the Cape Colony. The longest period that Sherwood-Kelly stayed in one place during his youth was when his father was stationed in the area that later became Transkei.
His mother died when he was 12 and his twin brother was killed falling from a horse when he was 13. His father subsequently married their governess giving him three half-siblings. He was educated in South Africa at Grahamstown (St. Andrew's College and St Aidan's), King Williamstown (Dale College) and Queenstown (Queen's College). From his earliest years, Sherwood-Kelly was known in the words of the British historian Roderick Bailey as "an outspoken man with a fiery temper".
At the age of 16 he fought in Matebeleland. He joined the para-military Cape Mounted Police and was at the Relief of Mafeking in South Africa. During the Second Boer War, Sherwood-Kelly served as a lieutenant with the Imperial Light Horse that was used to hunt down the Boer kommandos on the veld. He joined the Somaliland Burgher Corps fighting Diiriye Guure of the Dervish State. During his time in Somaliland, Sherwood-Kelly's insubordination led him being demoted first to the rank of sergeant and then private. Upon his return to South Africa, Sherwood-Kelly went into business as the recruiter of black labour for the gold mines of the Witwatersrand and the diamond mines of the Kimberly range. In 1906 he took part in the suppression of the Bambatha Rebellion. After he was finished his service in Zululand, he married an Australian woman, Nellie, whose parents came to South Africa during the Witwatersrand Gold Rush. Prior to the outbreak of the First World War he was housemaster at Langley School, Loddon, Norfolk (England) and a member of the Territorial Force in the United Kingdom.
First World War Gallipoli campaign In November 1914, Sherwood-Kelly was gazetted a major with the 10th Norfolk Regiment. He repeatedly requested a transfer and was sent to the King's Own Scottish Borderers in July 1915.
At the Battle of Gallipoli, he commanded a regular army Scottish battalion and, "for Distinguished Service in the Field", was awarded a DSO. He arrived on the Gallipoli peninsula in July 1915 at a time when the battle was already stalemated with the Allies unable to storm the heights of Gallipoli while the Ottomans were unable to push the Allies back into the sea. Sherwood-Kelly's nickname was "Bomb Kelly" owing to his enthusiasm for tossing Mills bombs into the Ottoman lines during the trench raids. The official history of the King's Own Scottish Borders marveled that Sherwood-Kelly "had a quite remarkable disregard for danger". On 15 October 1915, the battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel G.B. Stoney was killed by an Ottoman shell that levelled the battalion's HQ. Captain G.S. Stirling-Cookson served as the acting commanding officer until 28 October 1915 when Sherwood-Kelly took command. The British historian Peter E. Hodgkinson noted there was a lacuna in the war diary of the King's Own Scottish Borders regarding Sherwood-Kelly who was not mentioned once between October 1915-January 1916 despite being the battalion's commanding officer, which he suggested was due to his unpopularity with his fellow officers as "an outsider and empire ranker commanding a regular unit".
Western Front In January 1916, he arrived in France to take up service briefly as the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment. On 4 June 1916, his time on the front was cut short by a German bullet that went through his left lung, taking him out of action for much of the rest of 1916. In October 1916, he applied to join the 10th Norfolk regiment under the grounds that "some officers and many of the men present in camp who served with the 1st Battalion under my command". In March 1917, he was assigned command of the 1st Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
He was 37 years old, and an Acting Lieutenant-Colonel in the Norfolk Regiment, British Army, Commanding Officer 1st Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 20 November 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai at Marcoing, France, when a party of men were held upon the near side of a canal by heavy rifle fire, Lieutenant Colonel Sherwood Kelly at once ordered covering fire, personally led his leading company across the canal and then reconnoitered, under heavy fire, the high ground held by the enemy. He took a Lewis gun team, forced his way through obstacles and covered the advance of his battalion, enabling them to capture the position. Later he led a charge against some pits from which heavy fire was coming, capturing five machine-guns and 46 prisoners.
Sherwood-Kelly's citation for the VC published in 'The London Gazette on 8 January 1918 read: "For most conspicuous bravery and fearless leading when a party of men of another unit detailed to cover the passage of the canal by his battalion were held up on the near side of the canal by heavy rifle fire directed on the bridge. Lt.-Col. Sherwood-Kelly at once ordered covering fire, personally led the leading company of his battalion across the canal and, after crossing, reconnoitred under heavy rifle and machine gun fire the high ground held by the enemy.The left flank of his battalion advancing to the assault of this objective was held up by a thick belt of wire, whereupon he crossed to that flank, and with a Lewis gun team, forced his way under heavy fire through obstacles, got the gun into position on the far side, and covered the advance of his battalion through the wire, thereby enabling them to capture the position.Later, he personally led a charge against some pits from which a heavy fire was being directed on his men, captured the pits, together with five machine guns and forty-six prisoners, and killed a large number of the enemy.The great gallantry displayed by this officer throughout the day inspired the greatest confidence in his men, and it was mainly due to his example and devotion to duty that his battalion was enabled to capture and hold their objective".
In late 1917, Sherwood-Kelly survived a German gas attack that put him into the hospital. On 12 January 1918, Sherwood-Kelly arrived at Buckingham Palace to be personally awarded the VC by King George V. It was decided that he was not fit enough to return to the front and instead he returned to South Africa as part of a recruiting campaign for volunteers as South Africa only sent volunteers to fight overseas. During his visit, he caused controversy when he appeared on the stage with J. B. M. Hertzog, a Boer general turned leading Afrikaner 'republican' (i.e anti-British) politician. While standing next to Hertzog, he gave a speech calling for the Dominions like South Africa to have greater independence within the British Empire. In September 1918, he returned to the Western Front as commanding officer of the 12th Norfolk regiment, a position he held until the end of the war on 11 November 1918.
North Russia According to Field Marshal Lord Ironside's account published in 1953, the second battalion of the Hampshire Regiment on 19 June 1919 under Kelly's command as part of the North Russia Campaign "failed to take any part in the fight" at Troitsa, "a village encampment on the River Dvina and about 180 miles south-east from Archangel as the crow flies". quoted by When Ironside interviewed Kelly the following day, Kelly could not explain the 2nd Hampshires' failure to take part in the action; had Kelly been a Regular officer, explained Ironside, he would "certainly have had him court martialled." In view of Kelly's outstanding war record, Ironside merely withdrew the 2nd Hampshires from the line and directed that Kelly be sent home for demobilisation. According to the Brigade Operation Report, however, Kelly's column at Troitsa was successful at first but then withdrew as he considered the position insecure and was having difficulty obtaining ammunition supplies; when ordered to resume the attack, Kelly declined to do so.
According to Kelly's account given shortly after to his brigadier, a series of factors accounted for his withdrawal: slow and difficult approach through marshy woods, lack of information about the progress of other columns, stiff resistance by the enemy Bolsheviks, the danger of encirclement and lack of ammunition. In the event, Kelly was not relieved of his command and sent home as Ironside (in his own words) had "decided to give him a second chance." Kelly was not dismissed until 17 August 1919 and then for quite different reasons than the Troista affair.
In mid-April 1919, Sir Keith Price, a head of production at the Ministry of Munitions, wrote to the War Office urging the use of new variants of gas against the Bolsheviks in the North Russian theatre. Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State for War and Air, was enthusiastic in his support but was concerned at revealing the new gas in the course of a relatively small campaign. Churchill's concerns having been addressed, massive preparations for the use of the new gas were undertaken. As a trial of the new weapon Kelly, who was now in command of a very mixed outfit on the railway front as part of the Vologda Force, was ordered to carry out a raid on the Bolsheviks under cover of a large ground discharge of gas. Kelly objected less against the gas as against the raid itself whose purposes in his view could be achieved by other methods. The gas raid, due on 17 August 1919, never took place. Kelly was then replaced as commanding officer of his unit and sent back to Britain; the formal reason for his removal was that he had "remarked adversely on matters of military import", criticised his superiors and divulged military secrets in a letter to a friend in England; the contents of the letter constituted a court martial offence.