17 Facts About William Lummis

Canon William Murrell Lummis MC was a British military historian most noted for the research he conducted on the Victoria Cross, the Charge of the Light Brigade, and Rorke's Drift.

William Lummis served on the Western Front throughout the War, taking part in the Retreat from Mons and seeing action in Flanders.

William Lummis was commissioned in 1916 and transferred to his county regiment, the Suffolk Regiment, serving with the regiment's second battalion for the remainder of the war.

William Lummis commanded the battalion on 23 October 1918 at its last First World War action, the Battle of the Selle, when it took all its objectives.

William Lummis personally rushed an enemy machine gun and killed the crew.

William Lummis set a splendid example of determined courage to those under him.

William Lummis was appointed Adjutant and Quarter-Master in the Army School of Education in India, returning to England in 1925, rejoining his regiment on 14 October.

William Lummis was promoted to captain on 21 January 1928, and on 9 December 1930 he reached the retirement age for service, remaining in the reserve of officers for a further five years.

William Lummis was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1930.

William Lummis ran Boy Scout troops from 1909, firstly at Shorncliffe and later at Aldershot, in India, and at Ipswich and Kesgrave until the late 1930s.

William Lummis was active in the Suffolk Institute of Archeology and the Suffolk Preservation Society.

William Lummis was the first honorary president of the Crimean War Research Society and chaplain to the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association, whose membership is made up exclusively of recipients of those awards.

William Lummis' interest in Victoria Cross recipients started when he was a schoolboy in the 1890s.

William Lummis built up an archive of the service records and final resting places of Victoria Cross holders, summarising the results in a pamphlet.

However, William Lummis perceived short-comings in his work and encouraged David Harvey to continue and develop it, making his archives available to him.

Whilst editing the regimental journal, William Lummis met and interviewed many surviving members of the Charge.

William Lummis married Agnes Templeton in 1919 and was the father of Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Templeton Lummis of the Suffolk Regiment and a World War II military historian.