1643: Some 10,000 Royalist troops under the Earl of Newcastle advanced on Lord Fairfax's 4,000 Parliamentarians holding Bradford. Despite the odds, Fairfax led his troops out against Newcastle's men on Adwalton Moor, east of the town, and initially had the best of the fight. However, the Royalists broke his left wing, and a general rout ensued.

1857: Lieutenant Cubitt of the Bengal Native Infantry was awarded the Victoria Cross for saving the lives of three soldiers during an Indian Mutiny action. Corporal Oxenham of the 32nd Regiment also received the VC for rescuing a civil servant helping man the the defences at the Residency in Lucknow, after enemy fire brought part of the roof down on them.

1866: In the Gambia, British troops stormed the fortified town of Tubabecelong. Two soldiers from the 4th West Indian Regiment volunteered to lead the attack, and armed with axes, chopped a breach in the stockade. Heavy enemy fire killed one of them, but the other, Private Hodge, managed to widen the gap enough to allow his commanding officer to lead an assault party inside the defences. Hodge stayed with the colonel, and demolished with his axe two sets of gates to allow reinforcements to join them, despite being severely wounded in the process. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.

1916: In France, Company Sergeant Major Carter of the Royal Sussex Regiment led one of the follow-up waves during an assault on the German lines. Despite heavy casualties amongst his men, they passed through the first set of German trenches, captured by a previous wave, and attacked the second line of defences. They caused serious damage, and Carter, armed only with a revolver, killed a machine-gun crew. However, the British troops were forced back to the first line by weight of enemy numbers. Carter carried several wounded men to safety before being mortally wounded. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

His citation reads:

For most conspicuous bravery. During an Attack he was in command of the fourth wave of the assault. Under intense shell and machine gun fire he penetrated, with a few men, into the enemy's second line and inflicted heavy casualties with bombs. When forced to retire to the enemy's first line, he captured a machine gun and shot the gunner with his revolver. Finally, after carrying several wounded men into safety, he was himself mortally wounded and died in a few minutes. His conduct throughout the day was magnificent.

The following is a part of a letter written by Lieutenant Howard Robinson, Carter's Company Commander to Kathleen Carter, Nelson's wife.

When I last saw him he was close to the German line, acting as leader to a small party of four or five men. I was afterwards told that he had entered the German second line, and had brought back an enemy machine gun, having put the gun team out of action. I heard that he shot one of them with his revolver. I next saw him about an hour later ( I had been wounded in the meanwhile and was lying in our trench ). Your husband repeatedly went over the parapet. I saw him going over alone and carrying in our wounded men from 'No Man's Land'. He brought them in on his back, and he could not have done this had he not possessed exceptional physical strength as well as courage. It was in going over for the sixth or seventh time that the was shot through the chest. I saw him fall just inside our trench.

Somebody told me that about a month previously your husband carried a man about 400 yards across the open under machine gun fire and brought him safely into our trench. For this act I recommended him for the Military Cross. On every occasion, no matter how tight the hole we were in, he was always cheerful and hopeful, and never spared any pains to make the men comfortable and keep them cheery.

Colour Sergeant Nelson Carter is buried in the Royal Irish Rifles Churchyard, Laventie, France.