Private Jacob Rivers VC
Private Jacob Rivers VC.
When the overwhelming majority of Bridge Gate in Derby was swept away in the 1960s to make way for the building of the inner ring road the bulldozers, as they have a habit of doing, swept away not just the bricks and mortar of the buildings but also certain locations that are tied to historically important figures from Derby’s past. Nothing was truer than this when – during the ring road development – they demolished No 4, Court 12, Wide Yard which lay just off Bridge Gate itself.
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No 4 was a property that had seen the birth of not just a historical figure from Derby’s past, but a true and selfless hero – the person in question was Private Jacob Rivers.
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Jacob was born at No 4 on November 17, 1881 to George and Adeline Rivers. Jacob was one of seven children and when Jacob’s father died aged of forty-one, he and his brothers – when they were old enough to find work – all sought it out to ease the financial burden on their mother.
Jacob joined the Royal Scottish Fusiliers in 1899 and saw seven years of military service in India and Burma. He was discharged in 1907 and was placed on the military reserve and on his return to Derby he found work as a labourer with the Midland Railway.
Jacob was one of the first men to volunteer when World War One began in 1914 and this time joined the Sherwood Foresters. With prior and extensive military experience, Jacob was one of the first draft of men to be sent to France in 1915 and it was here – in March 1915 – that Jacob was involved in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. It was a battle that would result in more than 11,000 Allied soldiers being killed, wounded or missing.
The offensive began on March 10 with Rivers’ battalion held in reserve, but it was brought into action the following day when it was ordered to the village of Pietre.
Jacob’s battalion soon found their advance halted by machine gun posts and had to dig in. The next day, however, they found themselves under considerable pressure on their right flank. To relieve the pressure Jacob cautiously approached the German position and threw several bombs on them causing them to retire and helping relieve the pressure on his battalion.
Incredibly Jacob didn’t just do this once. He repeated the act later the same day again causing the Germans to retire. This time he was killed doing it.
For his actions, he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC). The VC is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the British honours system and is awarded for valour in the presence of the enemy. The citation for this award – published in the London Gazette on April 28, 1915 read:
For most conspicuous bravery at Neuve-Chapelle on 12th March, 1915, when he, on his own initiative, crept to within a few yards of a very large number of the enemy who were massed on the flank of an advanced company of his battalion, and hurled bombs on them. His action caused the enemy to retire, and so relieved the situation. Pte. Rivers performed a second act of great bravery on the same day, similar to the first mentioned, again causing the enemy to retire. He was killed on this occasion.
With the fighting so fierce it was impossible to retrieve Jacob’s body and so one of Derby’s greatest heroes has no known grave, though his name is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.
Jacob’s mother received the VC on her son’s behalf in October 1915. In a letter signed by the King it read:
“It is with much satisfaction that I convey to you the Victoria Cross awarded to the late Private Jacob Rivers.
“I deeply regret that his death deprived me of the pride of personally conferring upon him this, the greatest of all military distinctions.”