Other VC recipients from Ceylon
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Major Stewart Loudoun-Shand
This is the third of a five-part series commemorating 100 years since the First World War began.
November is Remembrance Month, when we remember all those who have lost their lives in war.
In addition to Lieutenant Horsfall, there were two other Victoria Cross
(VC) recipients from Ceylon.
One was Major Stewart Walter Loudoun-Shand VC. Although he was born in Ceylon, he moved to London
for his schooling and attended Dulwich College between 1891 and 1897.
His father, John Loudoun Loudoun-Shand, was a prominent plantation owner in Ceylon chiefly in the Dimbula and Dickoya districts and in 1879 and 1880, had been Chairman of the Planters’ Association of Ceylon.
Major Loudon-Shand’s VC Citation says: “On the first day of the Battle of the Somme on
1 July 1916 near Fricourt, France, Major Loudoun-Shand’s company attempted to climb over the parapet to attack the enemy’s trenches, and were met by very fierce machine-gun fire which temporarily stopped their progress. The major immediately leapt on the parapet, helped the men over it and
encouraged them in every way until he was mortally wounded. Even then, he insisted on being propped up in the trench and went on encouraging his men until he died.”
The other VC was Commodore Augustus Willington Shelton Agar, VC, DSO, RN, who was born in Kandy on January 4, 1890. He stayed in Ceylon until he was 8.
His father had been a planter in Ceylon since 1860.
Commodore Agar’s VC action
took place in June 1919. Agar was operating independently with a small
flotilla of motor boats in support of the Baltic States. The Bolsheviks had seized much of the Russian fleet. Agar considered these vessels a menace to British operations and took it upon himself to attack the enemy battleships.
Commodore Augustus Agar
He set out with his two boats. One had to turn back before completing its mission, but Agarcontinued. Even though the battleships were not in the harbour, Agar continued the attack. His boat penetrated was
closing on a larger warship when, damaged by gunfire, it broke down. She had to be taken for repairs for twenty minutes, in full view of the enemy. The attack was then started again and a Russian cruiser was sunk, after which Agar retired to the safety of the open bay under heavy fire.
For this action he was awarded a VC.