William Addison (VC)

William Addison was born in North Warnborough, Hampshire, on 18 September 1883 to William Grylis Addison and Alice Addison.{{cite news|url=https://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/10413472.blue-plaques-honouring-two-decorated-war-heroes-unveiled-in-north-hampshire/|title=Blue plaques honouring two decorated war heroes unveiled in North Hampshire|date=13 May 2013|author= Chris Gregory|work=Basingstoke Gazette}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PUcTDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT134|title= VCs: The Sideshows|publisher=The History Press|author=Gerald Gliddon|date=1 August 2014|pages=134–141|isbn= 978-0-7509-5765-6}} He was educated at Odiham Grammar School, Odiham, Hants.{{cite news|url=https://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/14435302.plaque-unveiled-to-honour-the-bravery-of-war-hero-chaplain/|title=Plaque unveiled to honour the bravery of war hero chaplain|date=18 April 2016|work=Basingstoke Gazette|author=Clive Hammond}} The family moved to Kent when he was 13, leading British government authorities to believe he had been born in Kent until the error was revealed by the chair of the Odiham branch of the Royal British Legion. After his father's death in 1904, he moved to Canada, where he worked as a farmer and a lumberjack. He returned to England in 1909 and became a farmer in Devon, saving up money to train for the priesthood. He entered Salisbury Theological College in 1911, and was admitted as a student in theology at Durham University (to which Salisbury was an associated theological college) in Easter term 1912, passing the first year examination in theology in the same term.{{cite book|url=https://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?query=addison&docId=bookreader%2FDU_Calendars%2F1914-5%2Fducal1914METS.xml&hit.rank=1#page/494/mode/1up|page=475|title=Durham University Calendar 1914–15}}{{cite book|url=https://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?query=addison&docId=bookreader%2FDU_Calendars%2F1912-3%2Fducal1912METS.xml&hit.rank=1#page/290/mode/1up|page=272|title=Durham University Calendar 1912–13}}{{cite web|url=https://libguides.durham.ac.uk/c.php?g=684731&p=4896623|title=Archives and Special Collections: Durham University Records: Information|at=Colleges|accessdate=27 June 2024}} He was ordained at Salisbury Cathedral in May 1913 and became curate of St Edmund's Church, Salisbury (now closed).

Upon the outbreak of First World War, he volunteered for the Army Chaplain's Department. He became a Temporary Chaplain of the Forces, 4th Class in the Army Chaplain's Department, British Army, and was 32 years old when the deed took place on 9 April 1916 at Sanna-i-Yat, Mesopotamia, for which he was awarded the VC "for most conspicuous bravery":

:He carried a wounded man to the cover of a trench, and assisted several others to the same cover, after binding up their wounds under heavy rifle and machine gun fire.

:In addition to these unaided efforts, by his splendid example and utter disregard of personal danger, he encouraged the stretcher-bearers to go forward under heavy fire and collect the wounded.{{London Gazette|issue= 29765|date=26 September 1916 |page=9417|supp=y}}

File:William Addison VC Grave.jpg]]

Addison was a Freemason and was initiated into Aldershot Camp Lodge No. 1331 on 14 November 1923.{{cite journal|title=Five freemasons from the province who won VCs.|journal=Insight (The Journal of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Freemasonry)|date=November 2017|issue= 14|pages=18–19}}

After the war, he continued as an army chaplain and served at Malta, Khartoum and Shanghai and at army bases in England. He was Senior Chaplain to the Forces from 1934 to 1938, when he left the army and became a parish priest. He was rector of Coltishall with Great Hautbois in Norfolk from 1938 to 1958. On the outbreak of World War II he returned to the army and again served as Senior Chaplain to the Forces. He died in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, and is buried in Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.

A replica set of Addison's medals is on display at the Museum of Army Chaplaincy, and at Sarum College in Salisbury.{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}}

• [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U49471 ADDISON, Rev. William Robert Fountaine], Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 19 Nov 2012

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|year=1997|title=The Register of the Victoria Cross|editor-last=Buzzell|editor-first=Nora|location=Cheltenham, Gloucestershire|publisher=This England Alma House|isbn=0-906324-27-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Gliddon|first=Gerald|year=2005|title=The Sideshows|series=VCs of the First World War|location=Stroud, Gloucestershire|publisher=Sutton Publishing|isbn=978-0-7509-2084-1}}

• [http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbaddisw.htm Grave refurbished]
• [http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/cobrookw.htm Burial location of William Addison] (Brookwood Cemetery)
• [http://www.tbcs.org.uk The Brookwood Cemetery Society] (Holders of the Victoria Cross Commemorated in Brookwood Cemetery)

{{Duke of Lancaster's Regiment}}

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Category:1883 births

Category:1962 deaths

Category:British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross

Category:British Army personnel of World War I

Category:British Army personnel of World War II

Category:Royal Army Chaplains' Department officers

Category:World War I chaplains

Category:World War II chaplains

Category:Military personnel from Hampshire

Category:Burials at Brookwood Cemetery

Category:People from Cranbrook, Kent

Category:British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross

Category:People from Coltishall

Category:Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England

Category:Alumni of Salisbury Theological College