Cyril Frisby VC (17 September 1885 – 10 September 1961) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Awarded the VC for his actions in the Battle of Canal du Nord during the First World War, in later life he was a prominent sports fisherman. Early life Cyril Hubert Frisby was born on 17 September 1885 at New Barnet, Hertfordshire, the second son of Henry and Zoe Frisby. He was educated at Haileybury College. He became a member of the London Stock Exchange in 1911. The same year he married Audrey Ogilvie-Grant in London; the couple had a son, born two years later. First World War Frisby joined the Hampshire Regiment as a private in October 1916 and within weeks was undergoing officer training. He was commissioned in the Coldstream Guards in March 1917 as a second lieutenant. He was posted to the Western Front in November, where he joined the regiment's 1st Battalion. Early the following year, he was promoted to acting captain. On 27 September 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive, the Coldstream Guards was engaged in the Battle of Canal du Nord, near Graincourt. His battalion was tasked with the capture of a canal crossing, with Frisby himself in command of one of the attacking companies. Once over the canal, he was to set up defensive positions and make contact with the adjacent 3rd Guards Battalion. On reaching the canal, barbed wire, together with heavy fire from a German machine-gun post under the bridge on the far side of the canal halted the advance. Frisby, together with a lance-corporal, Thomas Jackson, and two others, got through the wire and climbed down into the canal under intense fire. With a further twelve men joining him, he led the capture of the post. Despite a leg wound, he then attended forming a defensive line as per his instructions. While doing so, he had led an adjacent leaderless company in fighting off a counter-attack. For his actions, Frisby was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), one of seven that were awarded for actions performed on 27 September. The citation for his VC read: After the battle, the 1st Battalion was withdrawn to Boursies. Jackson, the lance corporal who had initially assisted Frisby that day, was later killed