The grave of Captain Noel Chavasse, double VC winner

As one might expect, the register devotes a considerable space to this brave man, who was the son of the Bishop of Liverpool. Noel Chavasse was born in 1884, and gained a First Class degree in Philosophy from Trinity College Cambridge. He qualified as a doctor in 1912, and worked at the Royal Southern Hospital in Liverpool. When the First World War started, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and was attached to the 10th Liverpool Scottish. He was with them when when he won the Military Cross in June 1915, going out into No Mans Land for 48 hours to bring in the wounded. Just two months later he won his first VC when near Guillemont on the Somme the battalion sustained casualties amounting to nearly a third of their strength. Chavasse again brought in the wounded, and under heavy shellfire bought a badly wounded man in. He was wounded himself, but continued to search for the wounded, along with 20 volunteers. It was estimated that in two days he probably saved the lives of some 20 men. His second VC was won in Flanders, when on the first day of Third Ypres (the 31st of July 1917) his battalion attacked near Wieltje, north-east of Ypres. Chavasse sustained a head wound but refused to leave, and in the appaling weather that was a feature of the battle he went out again and again to rescue the wounded, once more saving many lives. Early in the morning of the 2nd of August 1917 he was taking a short rest when his position was struck by a shell, and although wounded in six places Chavasse crawled half a mile to seek help for the others that had been wounded. He was evacuated, but, badly injured, died on the 4th of August - but only after dictating a letter to his fiancee Gladys saying that 'duty called and duty must be obeyed'. He was a truly selfless and brave man.

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