He was 24 years old, and a private in the 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 14 September 1914 at the First Battle of the Aisne, France, Private Tollerton carried a wounded officer (Lieutenant J. S. M. Matheson), under heavy fire, as far as he was able, into a place of greater safety.