| Nickerson | William Henry Snyder | | Lieutenant | NICKERSON, WILLIAM HENRY SNYDER, Lieutenant, was born 27 March, 1875, at New Brunswick, Canada, son of the Reverend D Nickerson, MA, Chaplain to HM's Forces, and Catherine Snyder, daughter of Reverend W H Snyder, MA. He was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School, and at Owens College, Manchester University (MB, ChB, 1896), and entered the Royal Army Medical Corps on 27 July, 1898; serving in South Africa during every day of the Boer War from 11 August 1899, to 31 May, 1902, attached to the Mounted Infantry. Brigadier General Sitwell says that one of the two Victoria Crosses won the day he seized Bwab's Hill, near Dewetsdorp, was that 'awarded to Lieutenant Nickerson, RAMC, for going out under shell and rifle fire and stitching up a man's stomach whose entrails were protruding, thereby saving his life. The man belonged to the Worcestershire Regiment and was lying in the open, and the enemy were concentrating their fire on this spot to prevent reinforcements from coming up to support the Mounted Infantry, who had been busily engaged all day. The man could not be moved and stretcher-bearers could not reach him until the fire slackened'. For his services in the South African War Lieutenant Nickerson was mentioned in Despatches April, 1901; promoted Captain, and awarded the Victoria Cross [London Gazette, 12 February 1901]: 'William Henry Snyder Nickerson, Lieutenant, Royal Army Medical Corps. At Wakkerstroom on the evening of the 20th April, 1900, during the advance of the infantry to support the mounted troops, Lieutenant Nickerson went in a most gallant manner, under a heavy shell and rifle fire, to attend a wounded man, dressed his wounds, and remained with him until he had him conveyed a place of safety'. He became Major 25 July 1909. Major Nickerson served in the European War from 1914, with Cavalry during the retreat from Antwerp, first and second battles of Ypres, Neuve Chapelle, in the trenches at Ypres, and on other occasions; on the Somme from September to November 1915, and in Salonika from December 1915. During the latter part of the war he held the appointment of ADMS, 2nd Division. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, 1st March, 1915, and was created a CMG in 1916; was three times mentioned in Despatches: 16 February 1915; 1 January 1916, and October 1916.
Source: VC recipients (VC and DSO book) | Royal Army Medical Corps |
