The Making of a Hero: James Neville Marshall VC

Published on 22 December 2025
Submitted by Peter Lees

In the Great War James Marshall served first in the Belgian Army and then the British Army as an Irish Guardsman (1st and 2nd Battalions). He was seconded to three Lancashire battalions.

His own war diaries (which had lain dormant for 105 years), together with those of Battalions, Brigades and Divisions in which he served, reveal an extraordinary individual. He earned the soubriquets of Marshall-of-the-Ten-Wounds and The Mad Major.

This presentation by Peter Lees looks into his truly extraordinary war record.

The Making of a Hero : James Neville Marshall VC
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