THE LORD ASHCROFT VC COLLECTION HAS ACQUIRED THE VICTORIA CROSS AND CAMPAIGN MEDALS AWARDED TO THE REVEREND JAMES ADAMS, BENGAL ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT.
22 December 2017


( select to enlarge )
Medal entitlement of The Reverend James Adams,
Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment, ( Chaplain, Kabul Field Force )

  • Victoria Cross
  • Afghanistan Medal ( 1878-80 )
    • 4 clasps:
    • "Peiwar Kotal" - "Charisia" - "Kabul" - "Kandahar"
  • Kabul to Kandahar Star ( 1880 )
  • India General Service Medal ( 1854-95 )
    • 1 clasp:
    • "Burma 1885-7"
  • King Edward VII Coronation Medal ( 1902 )


The Lord Ashcroft VC Collection has acquired the Victoria Cross and campaign medals awarded to The Reverend James Adams, Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment, ( Chaplain, Kabul Field Force ). Interestingly, The Reverend James Adams was not an official Army Chaplain who had been commissioned as an officer and this makes his award of the Victoria Cross even more unique.

The James Adams VC group will go on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery housed in the Imperial War Museum, London.


For the award of the Victoria Cross

[ London Gazette, 26 August 1881 ], Killa Kazi, Afghan War, Afghanistan, 11 December 1879, The Reverend James William Adams, Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment, Indian Army.

During the action at Killa Kazi, on the 11th December 1879, some men of the 9th Lancers having fallen, with their horses, into a wide and deep "nullah" or ditch, and the enemy being close upon them, the Reverend J.W. Adams rushed into the water ( which filled the ditch ), dragged the horses from off the men upon whom they were lying, and extricated them, he being at the time under a heavy fire, and up to his waist in water.

At this time the Afghans were pressing on very rapidly, the leading men getting within a few yards of Mr. Adams, who having let go his horse in order to render more effectual assistance, had eventually to escape on foot.

James Adams was invested with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on the 1st December 1881.


James Adams died on the 20th October 1903 and is buried in St Mary's Churchyard, Ashwell, Rutland.

Acquisitions

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Iain Stewart, 22 December 2017