Arthur Martin-Leake
Arthur Martin-Leake (4 April 1874 - 23 June 1953) is one of only three men to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice. He was born at High Cross near Ware in Hertfordshire on April 4 1874 and was educated at Westminster and University College Hospital, London.
While serving with the South African Constabulary during the Boer War 1899-1902, Surgeon-Captain Arthur Martin-Leake received the Victoria Cross for devotion to duty and self-sacrifice on February 8 1902, when he went forward under intense fire from 40 Boer riflemen, less than 100 yards distant, to dress the wounds of a man. The action occurred at Vlakfontein in the Transvaal, where a major engagement had been fought the previous year.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Martin-Leake was a doctor with the Indian Railways. Fearing that, at the age of 40, he would not be accepted for military service, he made his way to Paris and enlisted at the British Consulate before attaching himself to the first medical unit he could find - the 5th Field Ambulance. He was just in time for the First Battle of Ypres, at the centre of which seven British divisions were outnumbered two to one in the German offensive on the Western Front in the last days of October 1914. Throughout the battle, Martin-Leake again displayed conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. He was personally responsible for the rescue of many British wounded lying close to the enemy positions. He received a Bar to his Victoria Cross, becoming the first man to be so honoured.
After demobilisation, he returned to his work with the Indian Railways until retirement in 1932. He died in 1953.
