General Sir Reginald Clare Hart, {{postnominals|country=GBR|sep=,|VC|GCB|KCVO}} (11 June 1848 – 18 October 1931), was an Irish British Army officer and 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.

Early life and career

Hart was born at Scarriff, County Clare, son of Henry George Hart and educated at Cheltenham College.[http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/OC_victoria_crosses.html List of the 14 Old Cheltonians who have won the Victoria Cross] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513150108/http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/OC_victoria_crosses.html |date=13 May 2007 }} He was commissioned in the Royal Engineers.

Details on VC

He was 30 years old, and a lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers, British Army during the Second Anglo-Afghan War when the following deed took place on 31 January 1879 in the Bazar Valley, Afghanistan, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross:

{{quote|For his gallant conduct in risking his own life in endeavouring to save the life of a private soldier. The Lieutenant-General commanding the 2nd Division Peshawar Field Force, reports that when on convoy duty with that Force on 31st January, 1879, Lieutenant Hart, of the Royal Engineers, took the initiative in running some 1,200 yards to the rescue of a wounded Sowar of the 13th Bengal Lancers in a river bed exposed to the fire of the enemy, of unknown strength, from both flanks, and also from a party in the river bed. Lieutenant Hart reached the wounded Sowar, drove off the enemy, and brought him under cover with the aid of some soldiers who accompanied him on the way.{{London Gazette|issue=24732|page=3830|date=10 June 1879}}}}

Later career

Hart was appointed a district commander in Belgaum, Madras Command, on 2 March 1896. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in South Africa, he was on 5 October 1899 appointed temporary in command of the Quetta district (whose commander was sent to South Africa).{{London Gazette |issue=27469 |date=29 August 1902 |page=5610}}Hart′s Army list, 1901 He stayed there for three years until November 1902, when he was placed on half-pay and ordered back to England.{{London Gazette |issue=27515 |date=13 January 1903 |page=237 }}{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=24 November 1902 |page=7 |issue=36933}} On his return, he was appointed General Officer Commanding Thames District, where he took command on 8 December 1902,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=9 December 1902 |page=10 |issue=36946}} with the promotion to major-general on the following day.{{London Gazette |issue=27512 |date=2 January 1903 |page=6 }} He was concurrently Commandant of the School of Military Engineering. Promoted to general, he served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey from 1914 to 1918.[http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Guernsey.html World Statesmen] He died at Bournemouth, Dorset on 18 October 1931.

Sir Reginald Clare Hart is buried in St Marys Churchyard, Netherbury, Dorset, England.[http://www.remuseum.org.uk/vc/rem_vc_hart.htm Lieutenant Reginald Clare Hart VC] Royal Engineers Museum

File:Sir Reginald Clare Hart.jpg

References

The Register of the Victoria Cross (1981, 1988 and 1997)
{{cite journal|first=Brian D. H.|last=Clarke|title=A register of awards to Irish-born officers and men|journal=The Irish Sword|volume=XVI|issue=64|pages=185–287|year=1986}}
Ireland's VCs {{ISBN|1-899243-00-3}} (Dept of Economic Development 1995)
Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Richard Doherty and David Truesdale, 2000)

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20061218200907/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_vc.htm#1h Royal Engineers Museum] Sappers VCs
[https://web.archive.org/web/20041027213327/http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/dorset.htm Location of grave and VC medal] (Dorset)

{{succession box | before=Sir Henry Lawson | title=Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey | years= 1914–1918 | after=Sir Launcelot Kiggell}}

Category:1848 births

Category:1931 deaths

Category:Burials in Dorset

Category:19th-century Irish military personnel

Category:Irish officers in the British Army

Category:Military personnel from County Clare

Category:British Army generals

Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order

Category:People educated at Cheltenham College

Category:Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross