Only one man was twice awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I - Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps as Medical Officer to the 10th Battalion, the King's (Liverpool Regiment) - the Liverpool Scottish. This book is based on a a combination of his letters from the Front, family correspondence, photographs and other documents. It offers a study of a man who, while typical in so many ways of the Victorian/Edwardian middle class from whence he came, stands out for his simple courage and devotion to duty. The narrative follows Noel Chavasse from his birth, with a twin brother, in 1884, to his education and maturity in Oxford and Liverpool. While Noel grew up and qualified as a doctor, his father became Bishop of Liverpool and embarked on the building of the largest and last 20th-century cathedral in the Anglican world.

Chavasse: Double Vc

History

Clayton, Ann

Military

Leo Cooper

Martin Leake served in the Boer War and World War I and was the first man awarded the Victoria Cross twice; his story is re-created with the help of eyewitness accounts.

Martin Leake: Double Vc

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Pen & Sword

Only three men have ever won a bar to the Victoria Cross; but only two lived to wear the medal and bar, the other, Noel Chavasse, being awarded his bar posthumously. Of the three, the third being Charles Upham of the New Zealand Military Forces, Arthur Martin-Leake was the first to achieve this extraordinary distinction. And it is worth bearing in mind that both Martin-Leake and Chavasse were non-combatants, being members of the RAMC. Born in 1874 and brought up in comfortable circumstances in rural Hertfordshire, Martin-Leake trained as a doctor and spent much of his life working for an Indian railway company; but the urge to be where he felt he was most needed, coupled presumably with a thirst for adventure, though he himself would have been too modest to admit to either, took him first to South Africa during the Boer War, where he won his first VC, then to Albania during the Balkan War of 1912-13, where his presence must surely be classified as ‘outside the call of duty’, and finally to Flanders, where he won the bar to his VC. Surprisingly, this is the first biography of this most remarkable man, now printed in paperback format, for which Ann Clayton has been given access to all the family papers. These include hundreds of his letters, but she has also unearthed eye-witness accounts of his bravery which, typically, he was at pains to gloss over. This is indeed a thrilling story of a life lived to the full by a man who sought little for himself, but having been blessed with a fortunate birthright, only wanted to repay the debt. Ann Clayton is also the author of the widely acclaimed Chavasse: Double VC, published in 1992.

Martin Leake: Double VC

Pen_and_Sword

Many heroes emerged during the First World War, but only one man was twice awarded the Victoria Cross during that conflict. This was Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps as Medical Officer to the 10th Battalion, the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) - the Liverpool Scottish. The author has unearthed a forgotten archive of his letters from the Front and been allowed access to the Chavasse family correspondence, photographs and other documents. The result is a fascinating study of a man who, while typical in almost every way of the Victorian/Edwardian middle class stands out for his simple courage and unflinching devotion to duty. This is a deeply moving story about a modest but heroic man seen against the background of his devoted family and the grim realities of the First World War.

Chavasse: Double VC

Historical

Pen and Sword Military

Speaking of Writing

Vocamus Press

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Books by Clayton, Ann