Janet's Bar

01/06/2026

08/05/2026

We are keeping Kensington and Chelsea Conservative. 70% of the vote share to our team. So proud!!

05/03/2026

This looks like fun!

25/01/2026

19/06/2023

01/04/2023

31/01/2023

05/11/2022

A Chelsea hero and pensioner

William "Bill" Speakman-Pitt, VC (1927-2018), a 24-year-old private in the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment), received the Victoria Cross during the Korean War. The VC is the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Speakman was the first VC invested by Queen Elizabeth II.

On 4 November 1951, Pte. Speakman was attached to the 1st Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers. When the section holding the left shoulder of the company's position had been seriously depleted by casualties and was being overrun by the enemy, Speakman, on his own initiative, filled his pockets with grenades going forward and pelting the Chinese with the grenades.

Having thrown all of the grenades he had taken, he returned for more. Inspired by his actions, six men joined him in collecting a pile of grenades and followed him in a series of charges. He broke up several enemy attacks, causing heavy casualties, and in spite of being wounded in the leg and the shoulder continued to lead charge after charge.

Such was the ferocity of the fighting, that they ran low on ammunition, resorting to throwing stones and ration tins. The enemy was kept at bay long enough to enable his company to withdraw safely.

The Press of the time nicknamed him the 'beer bottle VC', something he disliked for fear that it suggested he and his colleagues drank beer while on duty; the beer was in fact used to cool gun barrels.

Speakman later achieved the rank of sergeant and served in Malaya (with the Special Air Service), Borneo and Radfan.

In a ceremony held in Seoul on 21 April 2015 for visiting veterans of the Korean War, Speakman gave a replica of his Victoria Cross and other medals to the people and government of South Korea.

Speakman became an in-pensioner of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and died on 20 June 2018. His ashes were buried in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, South Korea on 19 February 2019.