The stories of bravery and heroism from the Great War are myriad.

And many of the bravest, those who were awarded military’s highest award for valour, the Victoria Cross, came from Dorset or are buried in the county.

Bournemouth Crematorium and North Cemetery is the last resting place of five Victoria Cross soldiers. Meanwhile, a sixth Great War VC recipient, a Petty Officer in the Royal Navy, is buried at Northbrook Cemetery, Swanage.

One lies in rest in West Dorset and the first clergyman to be awarded a VC is buried at Weymouth Crematorium.

The Bournemouth Victoria Cross recipients are Frederick McNess, James Welch, Joseph Davies, Frederick Barter and Alfred Pollard.

Bournemouth Echo:  Rev Edward Mellish 

Admiral Victor Crutchley, from Nettlecombe is buried in nearby Powerstock and Rev Edward Mellish is buried at Weymouth Crematorium.

Ernest Pitcher is buried in Swanage, while another VC recipient, Blandford-born Jack Counter, is buried at St Helier, Jersey.

Because these men died after returning home, and not in combat, their graves have not been maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. However, thanks to family members and other local organisations their gravestones and memorials are all in good condition.

However, graves of VC recipients elsewhere in the UK have fallen into disrepair over the decades, prompting the government to recently announce a £100,000 project to ensure they are maintained.

Victoria Cross Trust founder Gary Stapleton said: “We will get to all of these graves in time – even the ones that don’t need a lot of work will be maintained because of this money.”

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration to be awarded to members of the armed forces of Britain and the Commonwealth. Won for valour ‘in the face of the enemy’, it has been awarded 1,357 times to 1,354 individual recipients.

Admiral Victor Crutchley received his VC for ensuring the safety of his men after an attempt to scupper the HMS Vindictive in Ostend harbour in 1918.

Victor Crutchley was invested with his Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace.

He also served with distinction during the Second World War. He died on January 24, 1986 at his home in Nettlecombe, Dorset, and was buried in St. Mary’s Churchyard in nearby Powerstock.

The Rev Edward Mellish was the first clergyman awarded the Victoria Cross during the Great War. He is buried at Weymouth Crematorium.

Edward Noel Mellish was a 33-year-old assistant curate at St Paul’s church in Deptford at the start of the First World War. Less than a year after joining the army as a chaplain, his bravery in action was rewarded with Britain's highest medal for gallantry: the Victoria Cross.

Attached to the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, Mellish found himself involved in the attack at the St Eloi craters. On 27 March 1916, several enormous mines were exploded under the German trenches and the British troops attacked.

Into this maelstrom, Mellish – a tall man – ventured over the course of three days, repeatedly going out under continued from page 21 machine-gun fire to bring in wounded men.

Alfred Oliver Pollard, who later became an author of crime and mystery books in later life, was awarded his Victoria Cross following action at Gravelle, France, on April 29, 1917. The Second Lieutenant of the 1st Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company, British Army, led four men on a counter attack after the British suffered heavy casualties from shell fire and a large infantry offensive. The enemy attack was thwarted by his brave action. Alfred, born in Surrey, died in Bournemouth in 1960, aged 67. He is buried at Bournemouth Crematorium.

Bournemouth Echo:  Frederick Barter

Cardiff-born Frederick Barter won his VC at Festubert, France, on May 16, 1915. The Sergeant Major, aged 24, led an eight-man attack on a German position with bombs. He captured three German officers, 102 men and 500 yards of enemy trench. After that he located and cut 11 of the enemy’s mine leads.

The Royal Welch Fusilier, who went onto serve with the Indian Army attached to the Gurkha Rifles, was admitted to the Indian Army in 1918. He retired as a Captain in 1922 and died in Poole thirty years later. His gravestone is at Bournemouth Crematorium.

Jack Thomas Counter was born in Blandford and is buried in Jersey. He won his VC following action with King’s (Liverpool) Regiment near Boisieux St. Marc, France, on April 16, 1918. The 19-year-old Private volunteered to relay a vital message to the front line, under heavy fire and over ground with no cover in full view of the enemy. A small party had already tried and failed. Then six men made individual attempts, with each man being killed in turn, before Private Counter volunteered. He lived until 1970.

Royal Navy Petty Officer Ernest Herbert Pitcher was serving aboard HMS Dunraven, in the Bay of Biscay, August 8, 1917, when his ship was shelled by an enemy submarine. After the Dunraven’s ammunition store – its magazine – caught fire, Ernest, aged 28, and others in his gun crew took the cartridges on deck in the middle of the battle and held them on their knees to prevent them igniting from the heat. When the magazine finally blew up they were all blown into the air.

Bournemouth Echo:  Ernest Pitcher

Ernest, who died in Sherborne aged 57, went onto serve in the Second World War. He is buried at Northbrook Cemetery, Swanage.

Scots Guards Sergeant Frederick McNess became a Victoria Cross recipient following action near Ginchy, France, on September 15, 1916. During intense fighting the 24-year-old led a charge into heavy shell and machinegun fire, before immediately leading another counter attack, despite being severely wounded in the neck and jaw, to stop the enemy regaining their trench. He continued fighting, throwing bombs at the enemy, until becoming exhausted through loss of blood. He is buried at Bournemouth Crematorium and North Cemetery.

James Welch was a Lance Corporal in the 1st Battalion, The Royal Berkshire Regiment, British Army. On April 29, 1917, he entered an enemy trench near Oppy, France, and killed a man during hand-to-hand combat. He then chased four enemy soldiers across the open, capturing them single-handed armed only with an empty revolver. For the next five hours the 27-year-old manned his machine gun during fierce combat, often venturing out into the open exposed to heavy fire to collect ammunition. He was eventually wounded by shellfire. He died in Bournemouth in 1978, aged 88.

At Delville Wood, France, on July 20, 1916, Joseph John Davies, a Corporal in The Royal Welch Fusiliers, and eight men became separated from their company ahead of a British attack. When the enemy launched its counter attack, the group was completely surrounded. Undeterred, the 27-year-old rallied his men into a shell hole and routed the attackers with rapid fire and by throwing grenades. He even chased and bayoneted them as they retreated. He died in Bournemouth, aged 86, in 1976.

Other VC winners from Bournemouth

Sergeant Frederick Charles Riggs of 6th battalion, the Royal York and Lancaster Regiment, was killed while leading his men against a German attack near the village of Epinoy in Northern France on the morning of October 1, 1918.

Sergeant Riggs led his platoon through strong uncut wire under severe fire and captured a machine gun and caused the surrender of fifty enemy soldiers before he was killed resisting an attack.

Sergeant Riggs was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. He had previously served in Gallipoli and Egypt, and had been awarded the Military Medal during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He has no known grave but his name is recorded on the memorial at Vis-en-Artois, close to the spot where he fell.

Corporal Cecil Reginald Noble, born on June 4, 1891 in Tower Road in Boscombe, was 23 when he died. He was an acting corporal of the 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade and gained his VC for bravery at Neuve Chapelle on March 12, 1915 but tragically died the next day after receiving gunshot wounds to his chest. He and Company Sergeant-Major Harry Daniels were both wounded cutting wires of entanglements impeding their battalion’s advance.