Clarence Jeffries
Clarence Smith Jeffries, VC was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. He was posthumously decorated with the Victoria Cross following his actions in the First Battle of Passchendaele during the First World War, in which he led several parties of men in an attack that eventuated in the capture of six machine guns and sixtyfive prisoners, before being killed himself by machine gun fire.
Jeffries was born in the Newcastle suburb of Wallsend, New South Wales, onOctober 1894. He was the only child of Joshua Jeffries, a colliery manager, and his wife Barbara, ne Steel. Jeffries attended Dudley Primary School before moving onto Newcastle Collegiate and High schools. Apprenticed as a mining surveyor at the Abermain Collieries on the states northern coalfields, where his father was general manager, Jeffries was noted as a cricketer and a keen horseman who took a particular interest in breeding thoroughbreds. In July 1912, Jeffries joined the 14th Infantry Regiment, Citizens Military Force, as a private under the compulsory training scheme. He was promoted to sergeant a year later.
Source: Wikipedia