Ernest Deane

Ernest Deane

The Military Cross (MC), for extreme gallantry

Ernest Cotton Deane (born 4 May 1887 and died 25 September 1915) was a medical officer of the British Indian Army. He was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland. He went to school in Dún Laoghaire (then called Kingstown) in County Dublin. Deane studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, graduating in 1909. He played rugby for Ireland in one match, against England in February 1909. However, his rugby career was cut short after he broke his leg soon after in a game against Oxford University.

Deane became a surgeon at the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin. He was then commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1911. In 1913, he was posted to India and served in Burma. He was sent to Meerut at the start of the First World War. He went to France with the Garhwal Brigade of the Indian Expeditionary Force. They arrived in Marseilles in September 1914. He was then sent immediately to the Western Front. There he served first with the 20th Field Ambulance. Then he served as a medical officer of the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Leicestershire Regiment. His unit saw much active service. On 22 August 1915, he was awarded the Military Cross after running out under machine gun fire to rescue four men who had been wounded by artillery fire. A month later, his regiment participated in the Battle of Loos, and was almost entirely destroyed. He was shot dead after going to help some injured soldiers. His action earned him a mention in dispatches.