The Liverpool Heroes Memorial, Abercromby Square, Liverpool. Image by Bill Sergeant. *
One hundred and sixty-nine years ago today, 29th January, Queen Victoria introduced a new military medal to honour acts of conspicuous valour in the Crimean war. Today, the Victoria Cross remains the highest military honour that can be awarded (jointly with the George Cross since 1940).
The local hero in the main image is Captain Noel Chavasse (1884-1917). Of the 1358 recipients of this award, only three have been awarded it ‘with bar’ i.e. twice in the same conflict. One of those was Noel Chavasse. The son of a clergyman who became Bishop of Liverpool, he grew up on Merseyside, living in what was then the Bishop’s Palace at 19, Abercromby Square Liverpool (now part of the University of Liverpool).
After taking a First from Trinity College Oxford, he stayed on to study medicine and also represented Great Britain in the 1908 Olympic Games, finishing third in a heat in which his twin brother Christopher finished second (only heat winners made the final). Qualifying as a medical doctor, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1913 and the following year was posted to France. It is fair to say that he threw himself into his work and was soon recognised for his bravery. As recounted by the Royal British Legion, ‘in June 1915 he won a Military Cross after 12 hours rescuing casualties at Ypres. In August 1916 he was awarded his first Victoria Cross for saving around 20 men while wounded at Guillemont on the Somme.’ #
Capt. Chavasse died 4 August 1917, aged only 32, after his first aid post was hit by a shell two days before. He was injured in the head and stomach but, despite crawling around half a mile to obtain assistance, he did not survive. Among many news stories to report on his death and the posthumous award of the bar to his VC was this one, from the Bayswater Chronicle.
Although, as a piece of wartime reporting, it probably exaggerates his final acts, this article nonetheless rightly draws attention to a genuine hero of that ghastly conflict. Today seems to be an appropriate day to remember him.
Notes and references:
* ‘Captain Noel Chavasse VC & Bar, MC (1884- 1917)’
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/captain-noel-chavasse-vc-bar-mc-1884-1917
# https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/stories/the-only-vc-and-bar-of-the-first-world-war
$ https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004147/19170922/152/0007