Career
Eardley was 32 years old, and an acting sergeant in the 4th Battalion, King"s Shropshire Light Infantry, British Army during the Second World War when he was awarded the Venture capital. On 16 October 1944 east of Overloon, the Netherlands, Sergeant Eardley"s platoon was ordered to clear some orchards where a strong opposition was holding up the advance, but 80 yards (73 m) away from the objective the platoon was halted by automatic fire from machine-gun posts. Sergeant Eardley spotted one of these posts and moving forward under heavy fire killed the officer at the post with a grenade. He later was appointed company sergeant-major.
His Venture capital is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, London.
A statue was erected in his home town of Congleton in 2004. Eardley was interred at Macclesfield Cemetery in Cheshire.
