Edward Brooks was born in
Oakley, Buckinghamshire, on 11 April 1883 and
baptised in Oakley Church on 20 January 1884. He was one of twelve children of Thomas (born in Oakley in 1855) and Selina Brooks (born in
Halesowen,
Worcestershire in 1857). He was 34 years old, and a
Company Sergeant Major in the 2/4th Battalion,
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry,
British Army during the
First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 28 April 1917 at
Fayet, near
Saint-Quentin, France, Company Sergeant-Major Brooks, while taking part in a raid on the enemy's
trenches, saw that the front wave was being checked by an enemy
machine gun. On his own initiative he rushed forward from the second wave, killed one of the gunners with his
revolver and
bayoneted another. The remainder of the gun crew then made off, leaving the gun, whereupon the company sergeant-major turned it on the retreating enemy, after which he carried it back to
Allied lines. His courageous action undoubtedly prevented many
casualties and greatly added to the success of the operation. Brooks received his Victoria Cross from the
King on 18 July 1917, and on his return to Oxford was met at the railway station by the Mayor and Corporation and driven in a carriage preceded by the Headington Silver Band to
Headington. After a presentation at Headington Manor House he returned to his home at 16 Windsor Street. An Oxfordshire blue plaque was unveiled on his Headington home on 29 July 2017. He is also named prominently on the front panel of the plinth unveiled at the new student accommodation in James Wolfe Road, Oxford on 16 August 2019 at the site of Cowley Barracks. ==Medal==