300 Sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



vJ 



All his services have been in the east ; he has not been in 

 Flanders or the western front up to the time of writing. 



He sailed from Suez to Basra on board the Kalyan with the 

 late General Sir Stanley Maude, and it was in Mesopotamia 

 that he won his V.C., " for conspicuous bravery in carrying a 

 number of wounded men and bandaging their wounds while 

 under heavy rifle and machine-gun fire." In addition to this, 

 his splendid example of utter disregard for personal danger 

 encouraged the stretcher-bearers to go forward under heavy 

 fire and collect the wounded. What is not generally known is 

 that for a whole day he carried wounded men and dressed their 

 wounds. 



Writing home at this time he says : 



" I do thank God that He allowed me to accomplish what I 

 set out to do, and also that I have received the V.C., as that 

 seems to have caused you and others much joy." 



This letter was dated November 3, 1916, from Mesopotamia. 

 Mr. Addison also took part in the withdrawal from Gallipoli. 



At present his ambition is to achieve something in sermon- 

 writing. I think, like many others who have been through 

 terrible scenes and experiences, he wants a long rest. 



One of the pleasures of his life lies in ornithology, and when 

 in Mesopotamia he spent most of his spare time studying the 

 ways of the birds and beasts he found there ; he sent several 

 interesting letters and articles to the Times and Field, which 

 were published. 



For four successive generations the eldest sons in the 

 Addison family have been clergymen, and the present W. R. F. 

 Addison makes the fifth. His father was an artist whose works 

 were exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Institute, and 

 other exhibitions. The grandfather Addison was a great 

 worker amongst the poor, both in Reading, where he was vicar 

 of Christ Church, and at Gibraltar, where he was head of the 

 English Cathedral. When on the " Rock," after three heavy 

 services in the Cathedral he managed to fit in a service for the 

 sailors on ships at anchor in the Bay ; even when storms were 

 raging and the notice-board said, " Double danger, double 

 fare," he went out in a small rowing-boat and held a service on 

 a hulk anchored in the centre of the shipping, in the true 

 sporting spirit. 



