The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Victoria Cross. Engraved reverse suspender with recipient's details; reverse cross with date of action.
James Rogers was born in Moama, New South Wales on 2 June 1875 and learned to ride at the age of four. He served with a local company of the Victorian Mounted Rifles before enlisting in the 1st Victorian Mounted Rifles in 1899, arriving in South Africa in November. Six months later he transferred to the South African Constabulary. The following year, during an ambush by about 60 Boers, he rescued soldiers on three separate occasions, each time while under heavy fire. For his actions he was awarded the Victoria Cross. The citation for the award reads:
'On the 15th June, 1901, during a skirmish near Thaba ‘Nchu, a party of the rear-guard of Captain Sitwell's column, consisting of Lieutenant F. Dickson, Sergeant Rogers and six men of the South African Constabulary, was suddenly attacked by about sixty Boers. Lieutenant Dickinson's horse having been shot, that officer was compelled to follow his men on foot. Sergeant Rogers, seeing this, rode back, firing as he did so, took Dickinson up behind him and carried him for half a mile on his horse. The Sergeant then returned to within four hundred yards of the enemy and carried away, one after the other, two men who lost their horses, after which he caught the horses of two other men and helped the men to mount. All this was done under a very heavy rifle fire. The Boers were near enough to Sergeant Rogers to call upon him to surrender; his only answer was to continue firing.'
After a brief return to Australia in 1902, Rogers went back to the war as a lieutenant in the Australian Commonwealth Horse. He also served during the First World War, but was invalided home in 1916 because of serious wounds received on Gallipoli. For a while in 1918, he held a commission in the Royal Australian Naval Brigade. After the war Rogers was a grazier in Victoria and later retired to Sydney. He died in Concord Repatriation Hospital in 1961.
Rogers’s Victoria Cross is accompanied by the Queen’s and the King’s South Africa Medals, service medals for the First World War, and coronation medals for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.
SERGEANT (LATER LIEUTENANT) J. ROGERS, VC, OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTABULARY. SERGEANT ROGERS WAS AWARDED THE VICTORIA CROSS FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION AGAINST THE BOERS AT THABA 'NAHU DURING THE SOUTH A
The radio series "War Correspondent", Program 5: Sergeant James Rogers VC, produced by the Directorate of Public Relations. The story of Sgt Rogers who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions d
Collection relating to the Service of Sergeant James Rogers VC of the 1st Victorian Contingent. The collection includes attestation papers, discharge certificates, citations and a commissioning warran
An oval varnished wooden plaque with green felt backing featuring a collection of five infantry collar badges from the 1st South Africa Brigade, surrounding two engraved sterling silver scrolls, one o
Victoria Cross. Engraved reverse suspender with recipient's details; reverse cross with date of action. William Thomas Dartnell, was born on 6 April 1885 in Collingwood, Melbourne. He was only 15 ye
Elgin Class 92, 212 grade Half Hunter pocket watch, made in 1903. Movement serial 10254106; case serial 6896761. Seven jewelled movement in a 14 carat gilded Keystone half-hunter case with blue enamel
