Postbox honour to WWI hero postman

A postbox has been dedicated to a heroic postal worker who was awarded the military’s highest honour for gallantry during the First World War.

Collyhurst-born Major Henry Kelly worked as a Post Office sorting clerk at the Newton Street sorting office in Manchester when war broke out in 1914.

He enlisted as a private in the Army and went on to be awarded the Victoria Cross for carrying wounded British soldiers 70 yards to safety from a German trench in France.

His citation for his actions on October 4, 1916, at Le Sars, France, reads:

Major Kelly also received the Military Cross for actions on the Asiago Plateau in Italy.

Now - 100 years on from his VC - his memory has been honoured with a plaque on a postbox near Collyhurst war memorial on Rochdale Road. Members of his family attended an unveiling ceremony.

The Royal Mail’s delivery director for Manchester, Ady Fielding, said:

Born in July 1887, Major Kelly was left the oldest of 10 children after his father died in 1904. He was educated at St Patrick’s School and Xaverian College.

He initially enlisted into the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders as a Private but rose through the ranks with the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment.

Major Kelly left the British Army in 1920 but rejoined aged 52 at the outbreak of the Second World War and became a Lieutenant in the Cheshire Regiment before promotions.

He later resigned his commission to return to work for the Post Office.

Major Kelly’s great niece Maria Kilcommons, from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, said: