Liverpool Docker hero; Victoria Cross winner.
Merseyside.
MS Private William Ratcliffe ("The Dockers VC") standing and speaking with flags as backdrop; other soldiers; and a woman sit listening. He sits next to young man in priest collar and robes; priest and other soldiers applaud....
Comments (5)
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I believe this to be Private William Ratcliffe..
Freeze the clip at 00:01, and compare his image with the photograph of William Ratcliffe on this page here......
http://liverpoolremembrance.weebly.com/lo
cal-vc-winners.html
Note that Ratcliffe was a Liverpool man, and was known after the war as "The Dockers VC", so this seems to me to add up......
My belief that this was William Ratcliffe is confirmed - I've just found him again in another clip, named this time, (although mis-spelt as Radcliffe), in clip 1890.34.
Brilliant - thanks again.
Given that Ratcliffe won his Victoria Cross in 1917, I think the date range should be changed to perhaps 1917-19, as this ceremony may have taken place just after the war). What do you think?
This was reported in the Liverpool Weekly Courier on 08.09 1917. The event took place on 06.09. 1917. Two priests attended. Father J Prescott, who had been at the front for over two years, and Father Toomey