William Lummis Canon William Murrell Lummis MC ( 4 June 1886 – 2 November 1985 ) 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 . Military career . Born in Coddenham , Suffolk , Lummis was the oldest of seven children born to George Murrell Lummis ( 1860 – 1912 ) and Louisa Sparrow ( 1854 – 1933 ) . After leaving school at the age of 14 , Lummis worked as a clerk in a Magistrates ' Clerk ' s Office in his hometown of Coddenham before enlisting , aged 18 , in the 11th Hussars as a trooper in 1904 . In 1911 he was a Lance Sergeant and became responsible , among many other things , for editing the 11th Hussars regimental journal . At that time he met the survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade who had gathered for a reunion . In 1912 he endeavoured to create a complete and accurate roll of the men who had served in the 11th Hussars in the Crimean War . By the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 , he was Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant , the youngest in the British Army . He served on the Western Front throughout the War , taking part in the Retreat from Mons and seeing action in Flanders . 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 . He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery on 21 – 23 August 1918 during the Second Battle of the Somme . He 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 . After the War ended , he remained in the Army , serving in India , Britain and Ireland . He 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 . He 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 . On leaving the Army he researched the other four Light Brigade regiments which had also taken part in the Charge of the Light Brigade . Ministry . Lummis was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1930 . 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 , including Rural Dean of South Elmham . In 1955 , he became a Canon of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich . 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 , and acting as Rural Dean of Higham . Lummis ran Boy Scout troops from 1909 , firstly at Shornecliffe and later at Aldershot , in India , and at Ipswich and Kesgrave until the late 1930s . In 1948 he was re - commissioned as a Chaplain to the Forces , 4th Class , with the Suffolk Army Cadet Force , and in 1950 became a lieutenant , also in the Suffok ACF , and continued to serve until his retirement in 1954 . 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 . 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 . He 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 . 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 " . 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 . ( The last veteran of Balaklava died in 1927 ) 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 " . Lummis was also the co - author , with Kenneth G . Wynn , of " Honour the Light Brigade " , which was published when he was 83 years old . 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 Cross es 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 . Legacy . His collection of artefacts ( including many photographs ) and his archives from his Victoria Cross and Light Brigade research were deposited with the Imperial War Museum 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 . His tape - recorded memoirs , covering the period 1904 - 1919 , are in the Imperial War Museum sound archives . His notes and papers on the histories of Norfolk parishes ( 1931 – 1967 ) went to the Norfolk Record Office . His Crimean War archives were shared with Dave Harvey , Ken Horton , Glenn Fisher , Andrew Sewell , Roy Mills , and Edward James Boys . Since Lummis ' death in 1985 , the Crimean War Research Society has awarded the Canon Lummis Trophy annually for original research into the Crimean War . William Lummis married Agnes Templeton ( 1897 – 1976 ) in 1919 and was the father of Lieutenant - Colonel Eric Templeton Lummis ( 1920 – 1999 ) of the Suffolk Regiment and a World War II military historian .