George Allan Maling
English military doctor (1888–1929); recipient of the Victoria Cross
George Allan Maling VC (6 October 1888 – 9 July 1929) was an English medical doctor and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Early life
Descended from the Maling pottery family, Maling was born at Carlton House in Bishopwearmouth, County Durham (now part of Sunderland), the youngest of nine children of Edwin Allan Maling (1838–1920), a general practitioner, and his wife Maria Jane, née Hartley (1847–1932). His paternal grandmother was a first cousin of Sir Henry Havelock. His mother's family originated from Scotland and had established a glassmaking business in Sunderland in the 1830s. Maling was educated at Uppingham School and graduated with honours in natural sciences from Exeter College, Oxford. He continued his studies at St Thomas' Hospital, qualifying MB BCh in 1914, then MRCS and LRCP in 1915.
After the initial outbreak of the First World War, Maling gained a temporary commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a 26-year-old Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 18 January 1915. After five months he joined the 12th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) as their medical officer. The following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:
On 25 September 1915 near Fauquissart, France Lieutenant Maling worked for over 24 hours with untiring energy, collecting and treating in the open, under heavy shell fire, more than 300 men. During the morning of the 25th he was temporarily stunned by the bursting of a large high-explosive shell which wounded his only assistant and killed several of his patients.
“George Allan Maling” enters the record as english military doctor (1888–1929); recipient of the Victoria Cross. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what George, Allan and Maling can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “George Allan Maling” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.