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engage in research work at Cambridge, initially at the Strangeways Research
Hospital. By the time he renewed his research scholarship in 1910 Ackroyd
was working in the Pharmacological Laboratory with Walter E. Dixon. He
then began research work in association with Frederick Gowland Hopkins,
with the pair co-authoring a number of research papers.
Military service: At the outbreak of World War I, Harold was nearly 37 but,
despite this he was keen to serve and he joined up on 15 February 1915,
commissioning temporary lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps
(RAMC). In July 1915 he travelled to France attached as medical ofcer
to the 6th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment, (Princess Charlotte
of Wales’s), part of the 53rd Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Division. After his
promotion to temporary captain in 1916, he saw action at the Battle of
the Somme. On 19 July he worked trying to save those injured during the
terrible ghtign at Delville Wood which became the graveyard of the 53rd
Brigade. This was three days of intense ghting following an assault on one
of the enemy’s strongest positions that resulted in some 700 men wounded
in the melée. Working under heavy shelling and braving snipers, Ackroyd
remained cool under the pressure, and saved many lives, despite being
in immense danger him seld - at one point he was blown into the air by an
exploding shell. No less than 11 ofcers singled him out for praise in their
written reports and he was recommended for the Victoria Cross. On 19
July 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross with the following citation:
“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during operations. He
attended the wounded under heavy re, and nally, when he had seen that
all our wounded from behind the line had been got in, he went out beyond
the front line and brought in both our own and enemy wounded, although