Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.
The August issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Chaplain 2nd Class William Addison, who was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for exceptional courage during World War One.
Born in Hampshire in 1883, Addison emigrated to Canada aged 20 but then returned to Britain five years later to study farming before eventually entering the Church. After the outbreak of the Great War, he volunteered for the British Army.
He was awarded his VC for gallantry during heavy fighting in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, in April 1916. He carried a wounded man to a trench and then tended to him and others while under a heavy enemy fire. He also encouraged stretcher bearers to go forward and collect more wounded men under heavy fire.
On another occasion, Addison was conducting a burial service at night by means of a torch when an enemy sniper shot off his hat. Several more shots followed yet Addison continued his service.
He survived the Great War and was given a permanent chaplaincy in the Army afterwards. He eventually left for civilian roles in the Church of England, only to return to serve as a senior chaplain in the Army during World War Two.
Addison died in January 1972, aged 78, by then a widower. He is one of five padres to have been awarded the VC for battlefield valour. British Army chaplains are commissioned officers who wear a military uniform but they do not command soldiers or carry arms.
Lord Ashcroft’s articles for Britain at War over the past 13 years have often been based on excerpts from his seven books on gallantry: Victoria Cross Heroes, Special Forces Heroes, George Cross Heroes, Heroes of the Skies, Special Ops Heroes, Victoria Cross Heroes Volume II and Falklands War Heroes.
Lord Ashcroft is a military historian who has lectured extensively on courage and his various medal collections.
- Lord Ashcroft’s latest article appears in the August issue of Britain at War which is on sale now.
