Harry Errington

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Harry Errington (1910-2004) was the only London fireman to be awarded the George Cross during the Second World War ^[1].

A bomb destroyed a house in Rathbone Street, near Oxford Circus during the Blitz, on the 17th of September 1940, bringing down a three storey house on top of an air raid shelter in which Errington was sheltering. Twenty people, including six firemen were killed. Errington recovered consciousness to find the basement shelter consumed by fire. He rescued a trapped colleague and battered his way through the debris to safety up a stone staircase. He returned to the conflagration to rescue another trapped man and, despite his badly burned hands, carried him to safety from the fire.

He was born in Westminster to a family of Polish immigrants, previously named Ebrogott. He first trained as an engraver and later as a tailor. When war broke out he volunteered as an auxiliary fireman at a station on Shaftesbury Avenue, near the business where he worked. He was later active in basketball administration (particularly during the London Olympics of 1948) and served as treasurer of the Victoria and George Cross Association until 1990. His George Cross is displayed at the AJEX Military Museum in Stamford Hill, London. He was born in London on the 20th of August 1910 and died there on the 15th of December 2004.