VC Action: Reverand James William
Adams VC (24 November 1839 – 24 October 1903) was 40 years
old, and a chaplain in the Bengal Ecclesiastical Department
(serving as chaplain to the Kabul Field Force), British Indian
Army during the Second Afghan War when 11 December 1879 he
carried out the following actions for which he was awarded
the VC on 24th August 1881. The citation was published in
a supplement to the London Gazette of 24 August 1881 (dated
26 August 1881), and read:
During the action at Killa Kazi, on the llth
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.
For the above actions the Adams was recommended
for the VC by Lord Roberts. Along with the Presbytarian and
Roman Catholic chaplains who also accompanied the force, Adams
was three times Mentioned in Despatches during the campaign.
He received his medal from Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace
on 1 December 1881.
Adams was appointed an honorary chaplain
to the Prince of Wales on 7 May 1900, and following the prince's
accession as King Edward VII he was confirmed in the post
of honorary chaplain to the king on 23 July 1901.
Adams died 24 October 1903. |
