A Liverpool Exemplar - Noel Chavasse

"Altogether he saved the lives of 20 badly wounded men, besides the ordinary cases which passed through his hands. His courage and self- sacrifice were beyond praise"

 

Noel Godfrey Chavasse was born at 36 New Inn Hall Street, St Peter-le-Bailey Rectory, Oxford on 9th November 1884. The younger identical twin with Christopher, they were both so small and weak at birth that their baptism was delayed and both were very ill with typhoid in their first year of life.

Their father was Francis James Chavasse, who had graduated from Corpus Christi, Oxford with a First in Law and Modern History in 1869 was ordained in the Church of England at Manchester in 1870. He  was then offered the Anglican Bishopric of Liverpool. The move was not without regrets as Liverpool during this time was one of the busiest seaports in the Empire and also had a great deal of religious turmoil in progress. The family moved to the Bishop’s Palace at 19 Abercromby Square, Liverpool as he was consecrated the second Bishop of Liverpool on 25th April 1900. Before then the twins had attended Magdalen College School in Oxford between 1896-1900 where they won numerous athletics trophies, with both Noel and Christopher gaining their blues for running against Cambridge.

In 1900 they moved to Liverpool College, where Noel won the Earl of Derby’s History Prize in 1901 and the Routhwaite Prize for Reading and Recitation in 1902.

In January 1909, Noel joined the Oxford University Officers’ Training Corps Medical Unit and, by the following May, was promoted to Lance-Sergeant. Noel finished his studies at Oxford in July 1909 and returned to Liverpool to continue studying, resuming his connection with the Grafton Street Industrial School, an institution for homeless boys in Liverpool.

At Liverpool University from 1910-1912, he qualified as MBChB MRCS LRCP and was registered as a doctor with the General Medical Council on 22nd July 1912. As a talented athlete, he was invited to trials for the British team for the 1908 Olympics in London but Noel was injured and couldn't take part. His time was good enough however to qualify, and the twins entered the 400 metres. Noel came third in his Heat, and Christopher was second in his, but neither qualified for the next round.

On 2nd June 1913, he was commissioned in the Royal Army Medical Corps (Territorial Force) and was attached to 10th King’s as its medical officer. On 2nd August 1914, the Battalion went to Hornby Camp, Lancashire for annual training camp, but Noel went straight to London to volunteer for immediate services overseas. In the early months of 1915, Noel’s dressing station was in the infantry barracks in Ypres and, on 16th June, the Battalion took part in the Second Army’s attack at Bellewaarde as part of 9th Brigade. Noel was not afraid to criticise his superiors, getting into trouble for complaining about the organisation of field ambulances, the rampant spread of venereal disease and the treatment of shell shock victims, who he believed should be helped, not shot for cowardice. He was very busy in scouring the ground between the lines to provide aid to the wounded. In his search for one officer, he visited all hospitals in the area by bicycle in the hope of finding him. Noel was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during this attack at Hooge (LG 14th January 1916), although missing the announcement at parade of his award when he was found weeping in a wood.

On 9th August 1916, at Guillemont, The Somme, during an attack, Noel attended the wounded in the open throughout the day. During the night, he scoured 'no man’s land' for wounded in front of the enemy’s lines for over four hours. Next day, he took a stretcher bearer to the advanced trenches, and under heavy shell fire carried a badly wounded man over 500 yards into safety, being wounded in the side by a shell splinter in the process. The same night he took twenty volunteers to rescue three wounded men from a shell hole just 25 yards from the enemy’s trench, buried the bodies of two Officers, and collected many identity discs, even though fired upon by bombs and machine gun fire. He was promoted to Captain and in November 1916 transferred temporarily to a field hospital. He was granted fourteen days leave to attend his VC investiture at Buckingham Palace on 5th February 1917.

 

During the period 31st July to 2nd August 1917 at Wieltje, Noel would be involved in the action that would lead to the posthumous award of a Bar to his VC. Though severely wounded early in the action whilst carrying a wounded soldier to a Dressing Station, Captain Chavasse refused to leave his post, and for two days not only continued to perform his duties, but went out repeatedly under heavy enemy fire to search for, and attend to, the wounded. During these searches, although without food, worn with fatigue and faint with his wound, he assisted in carrying in a number of badly wounded men, over heavy and difficult ground. 

 

 

He was very seriously wounded by a shell exploding in his dugout at 3am on 2nd August and was taken to No 32 Casualty Clearing Station at Brandhoek. On the way the ambulance was stopped briefly at 46th Field Ambulance, commanded by Lt Colonel Arthur Martin-Leake VC and Bar. Despite a successful operation to remove shell fragments, his condition worsened on 4th August and he died of his wounds at 1pm but not before dictating a letter to his fiancée Gladys in which he explained that he carried on working because 'duty called and called me to obey'. He was buried the following day in Brandhoek New Military Cemetery, near Ypres. His headstone is unique in that it carried two Victoria Crosses.

Statue erected on 13th November 2001 at 19 Abercromby Square, L3

Noel was posthumously awarded his second VC for what King George described as "most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty" a year later at Wieltje in Belgium. In addition to his VC & Bar, and MC, he was awarded the 1914 Star with 'Mons' clasp, British War Medal 1914-20, and Victory Medal 1914-19 with Mentioned in Despatches oak leaf.

Captain Noel Chavasse is one of only three people to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice and the only VC and Bar of the First World War. 

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/12/a-liverpool-exemplar-james-carling.html?q=James+Carling