Clifford Coffin

Major General Clifford Coffin VC CB DSO & Bar (10 February 1870 – 4 February 1959) was a 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.

Clifford Coffin
Major General Clifford Coffin
Born	10 February 1870 Blackheath, London, England,
Died	4 February 1959 (aged 88) Torquay, Devon, England
Buried	Holy Trinity Churchyard, Colemans Hatch, East Sussex
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1888 - 1924
Rank	Major General
Unit	Royal Engineers
Commands held	25th Infantry Brigade
Battles/wars	Second Boer War World War I
Awards	Victoria Cross Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order & Bar Croix de Guerre (France) Légion d'honneur
Relations	Isaac Coffin (father)

Biography

Born in Blackheath, the son of Lieutenant General Sir Isaac Coffin. He was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers. He served in the Second Boer War and was mentioned in dispatches.

He was 47 years old, and a temporary brigadier general, Commanding the 25th Infantry Brigade during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 31 July 1917 in Westhoek, Belgium, when his command was held up in attack owing to heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. His brigade had been shattered attempting to cross the marshy ground around the Hanebeek stream. [1] Brigadier-General Coffin went forward and made an inspection of his front posts. Although under the heaviest fire from both machine-guns and rifles and in full view of the enemy, he showed an utter disregard of personal danger, walking quietly from shell-hole to shell-hole, giving advice and cheering his men by his presence. His gallant conduct had the greatest effect on all ranks and it was largely owing to his personal courage and example that the shell-hole line was held.[2] In the action, he lead his retreating troops to repulse a German counter-attack. [3]

He served as Commander-in-Chief, Ceylon and ADC to King George V. He later achieved the rank of major general and was Colonel Commandant Royal Engineers. During World War II he was the chairman of the executive council of the British Empire Service League and Temporary Major General with the 36th Ulster Division.

He died in February 1959 and is buried at Holy Trinity Churchyard, Colemans Hatch, East Sussex. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham, Kent. In 2012, his grave was renovated by the Victoria Cross Trust.[4]

References

1. Lee, Roger, The Battle of the Menin Road, Australian Army Campaign Series - 20, Canberra, 2018
2. "No. 30284". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 September 1917. p. 9531.
3. Lee
4. "Clifford Coffin VC". The Victoria Cross Trust. Archived from the original on 24 April 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2012.

• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
• The Sapper VCs (Gerald Napier, 1998)
• VCs of the First World War - Passchendaele 1917 (Stephen Snelling, 1998)

External links

• Royal Engineers Museum Sappers VCs
• Location of grave and VC medal (East Sussex)
• Clifford Coffin at Find a Grave