Percy Storkey

Percy Storkey
Studio portrait of a man in uniform
Captain Percy Storkey VC, 1918
Born (1893-09-09)9 September 1893
Napier, New Zealand
Died 3 October 1969(1969-10-03) (aged 78)
Teddington, Middlesex, England
Allegiance Australia
Service/branch Australian Army
Years of service 1910–19
Rank Captain
Unit 19th Battalion
Battles/wars

First World War

Awards Victoria Cross
Other work Lawyer, judge

Percy Valentine Storkey, VC (9 September 1893 – 3 October 1969) was a New Zealand-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Born in Napier in New Zealand, Storkey moved to Australia in 1911. He was a law student at the University of Sydney when the First World War began. He volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in May 1915 and was posted to the 19th Battalion. He saw action on the Western Front, including during the Battle of Passchendaele. It was during the Spring Offensive that he performed the actions that led to his award of the VC. He finished the war as a captain. Discharged from the AIF, Storkey returned to his legal studies and became a crown prosecutor for the New South Wales Department of Justice. Shortly before the Second World War, he was appointed a district court judge and served in this capacity until his retirement in 1955. He moved to England where he died in 1969 at the age of 78.

Early life

Storkey was born in Napier, New Zealand, to Samuel Storkey, an Englishman who worked as a printer and his New Zealand-born wife, Sarah née Dean.[1] Samuel Storkey had moved to Napier as a young boy with his father William. Percy Storkey was educated at Napier Boys' High School, where he was dux of the school in his final year, and later Victoria College in Wellington.[2] As a teenager, Storkey served in the Territorial Force as an infantryman with the Wellington Regiment.[1]

In 1911, Storkey moved to Sydney in Australia and worked as a clerk for a steamship company. Within a year he was on the administrative staff at the University of Sydney. He then enrolled in the university's law school but the First World War curtailed his studies.[2]

First World War

Storkey enlisted for service in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in May 1915. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and embarked for England at the end of the year.[2] He was posted to the 19th Battalion, then stationed on the Western Front in France, in mid-November 1916. He was wounded within days of joining the battalion.[1] Promoted to lieutenant in January 1917, he was wounded again in October 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele.[2] The following month, having returned to duty, he was given temporary command of a company.[1]

In March 1918, the Germans began their Spring Offensive and the 19th Battalion, as part of the 2nd Division, helped in shoring up the front-lines as the Germans advanced. On 7 April 1918, while holding the lines near Villers-Bretonneux, his company was sent forward to clear Hangard Wood, believed to be lightly held by the enemy.[3] The company commenced its advance early in the morning after a covering artillery barrage lifted, but Storkey had fallen asleep and was left behind at the starting line. He shortly woke and quickly caught up with the advance. However, a machine gun post inflicted several casualties among the company, including its commander, Captain Clarrie Wallach. Taking command, Storkey led a small party on a foray to outflank the machine gun post. Despite being detected as they approached, his party succeeded in capturing a machine gun along with 50 Germans and killed 30 more. His conduct leading the attack had deceived the Germans into believing the size of the force facing them was much larger than it seemed.[4] The position secured, the Australians pushed on further into the wood but were unable to locate their objective. Storkey, considering the available options for cover too exposed, opted to withdraw the company back to their starting positions.[5] On reporting to his battalion commander, he was ordered to retake the position but advised that he had too few men to so. His explanation was accepted and Storkey returned to his trench.[6]

For his actions at Hangard Wood, he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC).[3] At the time, the VC, instituted in 1856, was the highest gallantry award that could be bestowed on a soldier of the British Empire.[7] The citation for Storkey's VC read as follows:

For most conspicuous bravery, leadership and devotion to duty when in charge of a platoon in attack. On emerging from the wood the enemy trench line was encountered and Lt. Storkey found himself with six men. While continuing his move forward a large enemy party—about 80 to 100 strong—armed with several machine guns was noticed to be holding up the advance of the troops on the right. Lt. Storkey immediately decided to attack this party from the flank and rear, and while moving forward in the attack was joined by Lt. Lipscomb and four men. Under the leadership of Lt. Storkey, this small party of two officers and ten other ranks charged the enemy position with fixed bayonets, driving the enemy out, killing and wounding about thirty, and capturing three officers and fifty men, also one machine gun. The splendid courage shown by this officer in quickly deciding his course of action, and his skilful method of attacking against such great odds, removed a dangerous obstacle to the advance of the troops on the right, and inspired the remainder of our small party with the utmost confidence when advancing to the objective line.

— The London Gazette, No. 30733, 4 June 1918.[8]

Later wounded for a third time, Storkey was promoted to captain the following month and given command of his own company. On 25 July 1918, King George V presented him with his VC at Buckingham Palace.[3] He was discharged from the AIF in January 1919.[9]

Later life

When he returned to Australia, Storkey resumed his legal studies and qualified as a lawyer in 1921. After briefly working in private practice, he became a crown prosecutor for the New South Wales Department of Justice, a role he fulfilled for several years until his appointment as a district court judge in May 1939. He presided over trials in northern district of New South Wales. In 1955 he retired, and moved to England where he lived in Teddington, Middlesex, with Minnie née Burnett, his English-born wife, whom he had married in 1922 in Sydney.[2] The next year, he attended the VC centenary celebrations in London.[9]

Storkey died at home on 3 October 1969, survived by his wife. The couple had no children.[2] He was cremated and his ashes scattered at South West Middlesex Crematorium.[9] The machine gun that was captured during the action at Hangard Wood that saw him awarded the VC is displayed at the Australian War Memorial[10] in Canberra, where a street is also named for him.[9]

Medal

Storkey left his VC, along with his Victory Medal, British War Medal, and medals from the 1937 and 1953 coronations, to his old school, Napier Boys' High School. In 1983 there was a controversy when the school Parents' League wanted to sell the VC to finance student scholarships. Eventually the medals were transferred to the QEII Army Memorial Museum at Waiouru, where they are displayed on a long-term loan. A replica of his VC is also on display in the foyer of the assembly hall at Napier Boys' High School.[9]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Gliddon 2013, p. 149.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Derkenne, Warren. "Storkey, Percy Valentine (1893–1969)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Gliddon 2013, pp. 148–149.
  4. ↑ Bean 1941, pp. 505–507.
  5. ↑ Bean 1941, pp. 508–509.
  6. ↑ Bean 1941, p. 511.
  7. ↑ Dennis 1995, p. 612.
  8. ↑ "No. 30733". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 June 1918. p. 6775.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Gliddon 2013, p. 150.
  10. ↑ "Maxim MG08/15 Light Machine Gun : Lieutenant P V Storkey, 19 Battalion, AIF". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 11 June 2018.

References

  • Bean, C. E. W. (1941). The Australian Imperial Force in France during the Main German Offensive, 1918. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. V (8th ed.). Sydney, Australia: Angus & Robertson.
  • Dennis, Peter; et al. (1995). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (1st ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press Australia & New Zealand. ISBN 0-19-553227-9.
  • Gliddon, Gerald (2013) [2004]. Spring Offensive 1918. VCs of the First World War. Stroud, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-8730-4.
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