William Lummis

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William Murrell Lummis

Canon W. M. Lummis
Born June 4, 1886
Coddenham, Suffolk
Died November 2, 1985 (age 99 years)
Nationality Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Other names Canon William Murrell Lummis
Occupation soldier, Church of England clergyman
Known for military historian

Canon William Murrell Lummis, MC, (Coddenham, Suffolk, on June 4, 1886, died November 2, 1985, aged 99) was the son of an undertaker.[1] He had two careers. The first was as a professional soldier; the second as a Church of England clergyman. He is best known as a military historian, for the research he undertook on the Victoria Cross, the Charge of the Light Brigade and Rorke's Drift. He married Agnes Templeton in 1919[1] and was the father of Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Templeton Lummis of the Suffolk Regiment and World War II military historian.

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[edit] Careers

Lummis worked as a clerk in his home town of Coddenham, before enlisting, aged 18, in the 11th Hussars as a trooper in 1904.[1] By the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, he was regimental quartermaster sergeant responsible, among many other things, for editing the 11th Hussars regimental journal.[1] He served on the Western Front throughout the war. He 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.[1] He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery on 21-23 August 1918 at the Second Battle of the Somme.[1] He commanded the battalion on October 23, 1918 at its last World War I action, the Battle of the Selle, when it took all its objectives.[1] After the war ended, he remained in the army serving in India, Britain and Ireland, until 1930, when he left having reached the age of compulsory retirement.[1]

After leaving the army, Lummis was ordained deacon in the Church of England.[1] Moving back to his home county of Suffolk, his first living was at St Matthew's church, Ipswich, followed by other appointments in the county.[1] In 1955, he became a canon of Ipswich.[1] After retirement, he went to live in Barham Broom in Norfolk, though he continued in the ministry, holding various part-time appointments in nearby parishes.[1]

[edit] Historian, writer, researcher

Although his main interest was military history, he also wrote two books on English parishes. He was also active in the Suffolk Institute of Archeology and the Suffolk Preservation Society.[1] Throughout his life, he shared his work with others, encouraging them to continue work that he had started. In his 98th year, he appeared in a BBC television programme, Timewatch, recounting his memories of meeting survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade.[1] He was the first honorary president of the Crimean War Research Society [2] and chaplain to the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association, whose membership is made up exclusively of recipients of those awards.

[edit] Victoria Cross archive

Lummis' interest in Victoria Cross recipients started when he was a schoolboy in the 1890s. He built up an archive of the service records and final resting places of Victoria Cross holders, summarising the results in a pamphlet. However, Lummis perceived short-comings in his work and encouraged David Harvey to continue and develop it, making his archives available to him. The result was Harvey's seminal book Monuments to Courage.

[edit] Charge of the Light Brigade archive

Lummis' first regiment, the 11th Hussars rode in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. Whilst editing the regimental journal, Lummis met and interviewed many surviving members of the Charge.[1] (The last veteran of Balaklava died in 1927.[3]) Hearing about the 1875 reunion when over 2000 men claimed to have taken part, he set about preparing a roll of those who charged, soon fleshing the list out with biographies. Over his lifetime, this built into a major archive, acknowledged as a major source by Lawrence W. Crider for his book, In Search of the Light Brigade..[4] Lummis was also the co-author, with Kenneth G. Wynn, of Honour the Light Brigade.

[edit] Rorke's Drift research

It is unclear when his interest in the Zulu Wars developed but his 1978 book 'Padre George Smith of Rorke's Drift was a detailed analysis of the part played by Smith in the famous battle of Rorke's Drift during the Zulu War of 1879. The book showed that Smith's involvement in the defence of the mission station had been seriously overlooked in favour of the more famous participants, such as John Chard and Gonville Bromhead, who had won Victoria Crosses during the action. Padre Smith is depicted in the centre of Alphonse de Neuville's famous 1880 painting 'The Defence of Rorke's Drift' distributing ammunition to the defenders.[5]

[edit] Legacy

His collection of artifacts (including many photographs) and his archives from his Victoria Cross and Light Brigade research were deposited with the Imperial War Museum[6]; and the National Army Museum. When the Royal Mail produced a series of stamps in 2006 commemorating the Victoria Cross, they featured photographs and artifacts from the Lummis archive at the National Army Museum.[7] His tape-recorded memoirs, covering the period 1904-1919, are in the Imperial War Museum sound archives.[8] His notes and papers on the histories of Norfolk parishes (1931-1967) went to the National Archives.[9] His Crimean War archives were shared with Dave Harvey, Ken Horton, Glenn Fisher, Andrew Sewell, Roy Mills,[10] and Edward James Boys.[10] Since Lummis' death in 1985, the Crimean War Research Society has awarded the Canon Lummis Trophy annually for original research into the Crimean War.

[edit] Selected Works

  • Honour the Light Brigade (with Kenneth G. Wynn), J. B. Hayward and Son , 1973, ISBN 0-9037-5403-7
  • Padre George Smith of Rorke's Drift , Wensum Books (Norwich) Ltd , 1978, ISBN 0-9036-1921-0
  • First Lieutenant Edward St John Daniel. The Tragic Story of the Only Officer to Forfeit the VC; Journal of the Orders and Medals Research Society, December 1969, pp 100-102.
  • The Churches of Bungay (with Ethel Mann), British Publishing Company, 1950
  • Kesgrave. A short guide to church and parish, W. E. Calver, 1937

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Obituary: Canon W. M. Lummis, The Times Nov 19, 1985; pg. 18; Issue 62299; col G
  2. ^ Crimean War Research Society home page
  3. ^ Brighton, Terry; Hell Riders: The Truth About the Charge of the Light Brigade, p. xxi. (2004: Viking) ISBN 978-0670915286
  4. ^ Crider, Lawrence W.; In Search of the Light Brigade. (2004: Eurocommunica Publications) ISBN 978-1898763123
  5. ^ de Neuville's The Defence of Rorke's Drift
  6. ^ Imperial War Museum accession nos: 12142, 47934K, 16863
  7. ^ Commemorative stamps
  8. ^ Imperial War Museum accession no: 9098
  9. ^ National Archive accession no: GB/NNAF/D93499
  10. ^ a b The Lives of the Light Brigade: the E. J. Boys Archive