The poignant childhood scrapbook of the only man to be awarded two Victoria Crosses in World War One has been rediscovered after 119 years.
Captain Noel Chavasse, a medic in the British Army who was fatally injured in Belgium in 1917, compiled the remarkable 209-page notebook with his twin brother Christopher when the pair were teenagers.
The scrapbook contains more than 100 sketches and watercolours depicting scenes from the Battle of Waterloo and chivalrous acts by medieval knights in shining armour.
The notebook, which was titled ‘Snow Flakes’ by Captain Chavasse and dates back to 1900 and 1901, also contains fictitious accounts of soldiers fighting in wars alongside pages declaring simply ‘duty at all costs.’
The extraordinary notebook, created when the brothers were 16, has now emerged for sale with militaria dealers War & Son in Leominster, Herefordshire, for £7,000.
It is being sold alongside the bravery medals of another member of the Chavasse family – the twins’ nephew Noel, who served as Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s aide-de-camp in World War Two.
A page reads ‘duty at all costs’ in an extraordinary scrapbook created by Captain Noel Chavasse and his brother Christopher when the pair were teenagers in 1900 and 1901
Captain Chavasse (left) titled the notebook ‘Snow Flakes’ (right), and included pages explaining how snowflakes are formed
Captain Chavasse, a doctor and Olympic athlete who was born in Oxford, is one of only three men to win the Victoria Cross twice since it became the highest award for gallantry in 1856.
The captain, who also fought in the Battle of the Somme, was first awarded the medal in October 1916 when he ‘tended to the wounded in the open all day under heavy fire’ during the Battle of Guillemont and saved the lives of 20 badly wounded men over three days.
He was said to have displayed ‘courage and self sacrifice beyond praise’ for retrieving the casualties, some in a shell hole just 25 yards from the German trenches.
Captain Chavasse, who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, was posthumously awarded his second Victoria Cross for bravery shortly after he died aged 32 in August 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele.
The medic carried an injured solider to a nearby Dressing Station and refused to leave his post despite being ‘severely wounded early in the action.’
The scrapbook contains more than 100 sketches and watercolours depicting scenes from the Battle of Waterloo and chivalrous acts by medieval knights in shining armour
Pictured: A page in the extraordinary scrapbook containing a sketch depicting a scene from the Battle of Waterloo and a story titled ‘Under Fire’
The extraordinary notebook, created when the brothers were 16, has now emerged for sale with militaria dealers War & Son in Leominster, Herefordshire, for £7,000
It is believed Noel Chavasse created the illustrations for the notebook and his brother Christopher wrote the stories which accompanied them
He continued to ‘perform his duties’ and ‘went out repeatedly under heavy fire to search for and attend to the wounded who were lying out’ despite his injuries.
Captain Chavasse, described as an ‘inspiring example’ in a London Gazette report in September 1917, later died of his wounds and was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.
His twin brother, Christopher, sometimes known as Claude, served as an army chaplain in World War One and was awarded the Military Cross and Croix De Guerre for his gallant effort to search the battlefields and bring in the wounded.
Christopher, who also competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London and later became the Bishop of Rochester, went on to name his son Noel as a tribute to his lost brother.
Pictured: The Chavasse family seen in 1904 with twins Christopher and Noel seen standing up at the back of the photograph
The extraordinary scrapbook also included a set of riddles (left) and an explanation of how snowflakes are formed (right)
Captain Chavasse, a doctor and Olympic athlete who was born in Oxford, is one of only three men to win the Victoria Cross twice since it became the highest award for gallantry in 1856
The pair, who were born in Oxford and later attended university there after moving to Liverpool with their father, also drew pictures of areas in the city
Pictured: A watercolour painting of Oxford seen from Godstow which was also included into the fascinating scrapbook
The captain, who also fought in the Battle of the Somme, was first awarded the medal in October 1916 when he ‘tended to the wounded in the open all day under heavy fire’ during the Battle of Guillemont
The twins were brought up in Oxford and later moved to Liverpool when their father, the Reverend Francis Chavasse, was appointed Bishop of Liverpool.
Their notebook reads like a love letter to Oxford, where they both attended university, and Captain Chavasse sketched various scenes of the historic city including Magdalen Bridge and the River Thames at Godstow.
The archive had belonged to a private collector who was unaware of its significance, thinking it was compiled by the younger Noel, not the double Victoria Cross recipient.
Christopher’s son Noel was awarded a Military Cross during World War Two for his efforts in providing progress reports in hostile conditions during the Italian Campaign of 1943.
Stephen Nuwar, of War & Son, said: ‘When we saw the scrapbook it was clear that it dated from earlier than first thought, and in fact belonged to the double VC recipient Noel Chavasse and his twin Claude, not his nephew of the same name.
‘It is an extraordinary and breathtaking find. To discover something so personal is really special. Claude wrote the text, while the bulk of the illustrations were by Noel.
Pictured: A hunting scene ‘for Easter eggs’ created by ‘Christopher Noel’ which was among the drawing found inside the notebook
Captain Chavasse, who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, was posthumously awarded his second Victoria Cross for bravery shortly after he died aged 32 in August 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele
Christopher, who also competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London and later became the Bishop of Rochester, went on to name his son Noel as a tribute to his lost brother
The archive had belonged to a private collector who was unaware of its significance, thinking it was compiled by the younger Noel, not the double Victoria Cross recipient
Pictured: A page in the notebook explaining the scrapbook had been edited by Christopher and illustrated by Noel
‘There are scenes of Waterloo and the Boer War, knights in shining armour, Ottomans, but also ghost stories, steam trains, ships and snow flakes.
‘When you read Noel’s words ‘to do one duty’, it is especially poignant considering his actions 16 years later.
‘To carry on tending to those wounded troops knowing he was dying himself, you can scarcely believe the level of bravery.
‘The Chavasse family was truly extraordinary. Noel was fond of drawing snowflakes, and it is interesting that the book carries that title.
‘But he could never be considered a snowflake in today’s sense, as he was one of the bravest men in the war.’
The notebook is being sold alongside the bravery medals (pictured) of another member of the Chavasse family – the twins’ nephew Noel, who served as Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s aide-de-camp in World War Two