Seaford honours Gallipoli VC soldier Cuthbert Bromley

Relatives of a World War One solder from East Sussex have attended a service at which a paving stone and plaque were unveiled in his honour.

Maj Cuthbert Bromley, 36, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery while serving in Gallipoli when he and his fellow soldiers came under gunfire.

He died in August 1915 after the ship he was travelling in was sunk by a German torpedo in the Aegean Sea.

The event to mark the centenary of his death was held at Seaford War Memorial.

Local dignitaries and members of the Royal British Legion also attended the ceremony.

Maj Cuthbert Bromley, 1878 - 1915

He was the adjutant to the Commanding Officer at Gallipoli and was shot in his back on the first day.

He refused to leave his men, only reporting the wound three days later, after receiving a further wound in his knee.

Promoted to Major, he led his men during the battles of Krithia before being badly wounded in the foot at Gully Ravine, refusing to leave his post until the battle was over.

After a spell in hospital in Egypt, he managed to get on to the troop ship the Royal Edward to return to Gallipoli but was killed when the ship was sunk in the Aegean Sea.

He was seen helping people, before being hit on the head with driftwood and drowning.

Maj Bromley, who served in the Lancashire Fusiliers, spent some of his early childhood years in Seaford, and the town has a road named after him.

He was one of six Lancashire Fusiliers soldiers who won the Victoria Cross "before breakfast" on the same day.

The medals for valour shown in a dawn assault near Cape Helles, Turkey, on 25 April 1915 were on display at the Fusiliers Museum in Bury earlier this year.