Noel Godfrey Chavasse 90th Anniversary

Noel Godfrey Chavasse died of his wounds at Branhoek, Belgium on August 4, 1917, aged 33. The son of Francis James Chavasse, Bishop of Liverpool, Noel was a Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) officer and is one of only three people to have received the Victoria Cross twice and the only one to both a VC and Bar in World War 1. He received his first VC for his actions in July 1916 when he saved the lives of at least 20 men on the battlefield of Guillemont. The second was awarded for his actions in the period leading up to his death, when he repeatedly went out to search for wounded men under heavy fire, even when his own wounds were life-threatening.

Before the war he lived in Liverpool at the Bishops' Palace, 19 Abercromby Square, now home to The Reader. On the anniversary of his death wreaths are placed on the steps leading up to the front door. Today seemed a good day to mention it.