A search is under way to trace the descendants of first world war heroes who were awarded the Victoria Cross for their outstanding bravery.

They include a former Mansfield Colliery miner who captured 50 enemy soldiers as they tried to escape along a communication trench.

Nottinghamshire County Council is keen to find surviving relatives so they can be part of the launch of a new exhibition that will celebrate their ancestors’ acts of heroism.

The Victoria Cross is the highest military honour and is only awarded in the most exceptional circumstances, for “…most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.”

Just six Nottinghamshire men received the Victoria Cross for their actions during the war, from 1914 to 1918, including Lance Corporal Wilfrid Dolby Fuller VC, who served in 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards.

His Victoria Cross citation from the London Gazette (19th, April 1915) read: “On the 1st March, 1915, at Neuve Chapelle,France, Lance Corporal Fuller saw a party of the enemy trying to escape along a communication trench. He ran towards them, and killed the leading man with a grenade, the remainder (approximately 50 men) seeing no means of evading his grenades, all surrendered to him. Lance Corporal Fuller was quite alone at the time.”

Born in East Kirkby, Wilfrid moved to Mansfield as a child. Before the war he was a pony driver at Mansfield Colliery, where his father was also employed.

A keen footballer, Wilfrid was a member of the Warsop Vale Church choir and the Mansfield St Lawrence Bible Class. He served as a bugler in the Mansfield Cadet Corps, Greasley, before joining the Grenadier Guards.

Wilfrid received his Victoria Cross from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 4th June, 1915, after being given a hero’s welcome and civic reception in Mansfield.

He went on to serve in the police force in Somerset and died on 22nd November, 1947 and is buried in Frome, Somerset.

The other five recepients of the Victoria Cross in Nottinghamshire from that time were: Sergeant William Henry Johnson, of Worksop’ Sapper William Hackett, of Sneinton; Colonel Sir Charles Geoffrey Vickers, of Nottingham; Captain Albert Ball, of Lenton; and Private Samuel Harvey, of Bulwell.

The exhibition, which will tour libraries and other public buildings across the county from this summer, will also include a replica of the Victoria Cross and information about other medals awarded for service during the first world war (also known as the Great War).

It is part of a range of activities planned by the authority to mark the centenary of the end of the conflict, including the creation of a new memorial for the county and city, bearing the names of more than 14,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians from Nottingham and Nottinghamshire who lost their lives in the conflict.

Coun Kay Cutts, leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “When you read about the incredible acts of heroism carried out by these Nottinghamshire men, it is understandable why they should be recipients of the highest possible military honour.

“We would like the descendants of these men to be part of the launch of the exhibition, although we are under no illusions this will be a difficult task with so much time having passed and with some of the men having moved to different parts of the UK by the time of their death.”

Anyone who is a descendant of any of Nottinghamshire’s first world war Victoria Cross recipients should contact community officer Neil Bettison at the council on 0115 977 2051 or email [email protected]

Further information is at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/culture-leisure/heritage/the-victoria-cross