David was born at Darraghlan in Stradnooden, County Monaghan. He was the son of George and Mary (Black) Nelson and the family attended Cahans Presbyterian Church. David attended Urcher National School and Monaghan Model School.  He originally enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in 1904 but later transferred to L Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery where he was promoted bombardier (corporal) in 1910 and also obtained a first class certificate in gunnery from the School of Gunnery at Shoeburyness, the Ministry of Defence establishment for testing guns and training gunners founded in 1849 and located east of London, near Southend.

The United Kingdom declared war on 4 August 1914 and the following day David was promoted Sergeant in L Battery, Royal Horse Artillery. The British army, which was very small compared to the millions of troops of the German army which stormed through Belgium and northern France, was though a highly-trained, experienced professional force which attempted to stop the German advance at the town of Mons in Belgium. However, on 23 August the French army, like the German army millions strong but composed mostly of inexperienced conscripts, retreated. The British had little choice but to retreat as well. During the retreat there would be engagements in which the retreating troops would try to hold up their pursuers.

One such action took place on 1 September at a place called Néry, about 35 miles north-east of Paris. For a whole morning Nelson’s unit, L Battery, held up a considerably larger force, the German 4^th Cavalry division. Though of short duration, fighting was bitter and highly destructive. It began early, before morning mist had cleared, and L Battery lost three of its six guns before the Battery deployed to fire back, and it soon lost two more guns.

L Battery manned the last gun as best it could, and was able under heavy bombardment to keep its own fire until the last shell had been used. One of those working the gun to the last was David, whose precise job was range-finder; he stuck to his position even though seriously wounded and ignoring orders to retire. This required hospitalisation, and two days later was taken prisoner, though he managed to escape soon after.

A week later as he recuperated in a French hospital he wrote: “My Battery suffered a heavy loss on Tuesday morning September 1st, but I escaped with two wounds – one slight on the thigh, the other severe on the right side. We were taken prisoner by the Germans on Wednesday night. However I escaped on Saturday and found my way to French troops”. 

David’s VC was gazetted (published in the relevant official journal) on 16 November 1914, the day after he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. His citation reads “On 1 September 1914, Sergeant David Nelson helped to bring the guns into action – with an officer Edward Kinder Bradley and a warrant officer George Thomas Durell – under heavy fire and in spite of being severely wounded. He remained with the guns until all the ammunition was expended, although he had been ordered to retire to cover”.  

Slowly he recovered from his serious injuries  and returned to Monaghan where he was treated as a hero and given a ceremonial sword and service scabbards with full dress belt and slings in recognition of his bravery and the distinction he had brought to his home community. David was promoted first lieutenant in June 1915 and spent a period as a Captain-Instructor at the School of Gunnery. He married Ada Jane Jessie Bishop on 14 November 1915 and had a son Victor Cyril.

On his final journey to France, he wrote to his mother: “It has been my wish since I have been a boy that I might go to war for England”. His posting to France in 1918 was planned as an eight week reconnaissance mission. On April 7th his Battery Mess was hit by a shell and David was badly wounded. He died the following day from his injuries and was buried in Lillers Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.

His childhood sweetheart Jessie never remarried and died in England  as late as March 1980. Victor Cyril emigrated to America in 1946 and still lives in Seattle, Washington, USA..He is 99 years of age.David’s Victoria Cross is displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London.. The gun used at Néry survived and is also on display at the Imperial War Museum. The Néry gun   Born: 3 April 1886 Died: 8 April 1918   Bibliography: Richard Doherty & David Truesdale: Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Dublin, 2000); John Keegan: The First World War (London, 1998); David Stevenson: 1914-1918: The History of the First World War (Penguin Books, 2004); www.iwm.org.uk