Arthur Saunders

Arthur Saunders lived here at the time he won his Victoria Cross, the first such decoration ever awarded to the Suffolk Regiment or to someone from Ipswich.

Joining the Royal Navy aged just 15 in 1893 he was a Petty Officer for fifteen years. He married Edith Everitt in 1908, they had three children and he worked for Ransomes, Sims & Jeffries.

At the outbreak of WW1 he joined the 9th Service Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment being quickly promoted to Sergeant. Within a month of arrival in France he saw action at Loos where, despite a shattered leg "for conspicuous bravery … defending the remains of the Battalion and covering its retirement" the Victoria Cross was awarded on 26th September 1915.

Arthur Saunders became an Honorary Freemen of the Borough and a Magistrate. During WW2 he re-enlisted and became RSM in the Home Guard.

The plaque was unveiled on 26th September 2010 by the family of Sgt Saunders. The photograph shows Taff Gillingham in the uniform of a World War One lance-corporal outside the house from which Sgt Saunders left to go to war.