Robert Purvis

Born in 1878, he was a miner before he enlisted as a Regular soldier in the 1st Battalion DLI in 1897. He served throughout the Boer War with that battalion and continued in the ranks until 1914. In August 1914, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant from Colour Sergeant and fought on the Western Front in Belgium and France with the 2nd Battalion DLI. He later moved, as a Captain, to the 15th (Service) Battalion DLI and on 8 October 1918 he gained the Military Cross, when he led a successful attack on Angles Chateau, Beaurevoir, capturing thirty Germans. Robert Purvis retired from the Army in 1923.