Throughout the First World War, the many announcements of British and Commonwealth gallantry awards appeared in the various issues of The London Gazette. As part of our major monthly series covering the period of the Great War commemorations, we examine some of the actions involved and summarise all of the awards announced in September 1917.
THE PAGES of The London Gazette of 14 September 1917 contained a very rare announcement – the award of a Bar to the Victoria Cross. It was only the second time that such an event had occurred. The recipient was Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, VC, MC.
A runner who had competed in the 1908 Olympic Games, Noel Chavasse had studied medicine at Oxford University. He joined the university’s Officers’ Training Corps Medical Unit and after further studies at Liverpool College resulted in his registration as a doctor, in 1913 he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was attached to the 10th Battalion King’s Regiment (Liverpool), known as the Liverpool Scottish.
Chavasse’s first award of the Victoria Cross was for his actions at Guillemont, France, on 9 August 1916, when he attended to the wounded all day under heavy fire. His Bar, however, was the result of his work at Passchendaele.
