Hospital unit named after town's Victoria Cross hero

Fred Potts is celebrated by his family who say he was a "modest man"

A £12m hospital unit named after a World War One soldier who is Reading's only recipient of a Victoria Cross has been officially opened.

Fred Potts was shot in the thigh but dragged badly wounded Arthur Andrews on a shovel for 500 metres while under fire during the Gallipoli campaign in August 1915.

The unit at the town's Royal Berkshire Hospital housing the urology service was named after Mr Potts following a ceremony on Friday.

His grandson Robert Binham never met him before his death aged 50 in 1943 but said his family remained "extremely proud" of his achievement.

The Victoria Cross is Britain's joint-highest award for gallantry and marks an act of extreme bravery in the presence of the enemy.

The pair had already hidden under Turkish trenches for two days before Mr Potts' act of heroism.

"I understand he was an extremely modest man, who never talked about it," Mr Binham said.

"He just believed that what he did, anybody would have done so why should he be recognised for that? Which is brilliant, isn't it, really?

"The family never really talked about it. We were just extremely proud that he had won his medal," he added.

Mr Potts has been commemorated since 2015 by a statue outside Forbury Gardens following a successful fundraising campaign.

According to a BBC Radio Berkshire documentary, which brought Mr Potts' contribution to light, a total of 320 men from Berkshire Yeomanry fought at the Battle of Scimitar Hill on 21 August 1915.

More than half were casualties and 65 were killed. Of those who died, 54 have no known grave.

Mr Potts returned to Reading a hero. Hundreds of people attended his wedding and he attended the burial of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920.

Tropper Potts Way in Reading was officially named after him at another ceremony in the town in April 2014.