[Kyt]

£200K for Victoria Cross of brave but lonely hero - Sunday Mirror

A Victoria Cross won by one of Britain's most heroic First World War soldiers - but who later died sad and lonely - has sold for more than £200,000.

A private collector's bid secured the medal group of Major Herbert James, who insisted on returning to the front line at both the Somme and Gallipoli despite suffering numerous injuries.

His actions in 1915 at Gallipoli won him the highest military honour when he led two charges after the Allies suffered heavy losses - then fought off a Turk force alone by barricading himself behind a wall of dead colleagues and hurling grenades at the enemy. His VC citation read that he "kept back the enemy single-handed till a barrier had been built behind him and the trench secured... He was throughout exposed to a murderous fire". Major James, of the Worcestershire Regiment, would regularly venture into no-man's-land to rescue wounded colleagues - on one occasion dragging two out at the same time.

But the Birmingham-born hero's life ended sadly in 1958 when - separated from his second wife and working as a fine art dealer - he died from a seizure in a rented flat in London. He was a recluse and his body wasn't found for six days.

His VC and other medals were bought by "a collector with a particular interest in Gallipoli".