Lieutenant-Colonel Tom Edwin Adlam VC (21 October 1893 – 28 May 1975) was an English recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. A soldier with The Bedfordshire Regiment during the First World War, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 27 September 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. He later served in the Second World War. Adlam was twenty two years old, and a temporary second lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment,

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

when the following deed took place on 27 September 1916 at

Thiepval Thiepval (; pcd, Tièbvo) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Thiepval is located north of Albert at the crossroads of the D73 and D151 and approximately northeast of Amiens. Population First Wo ...

, France, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Major-General (later Lieutenant-General, Sir)

Ivor Maxse General Sir Frederick Ivor Maxse, (22 December 1862 – 28 January 1958) was a senior British Army officer who fought during the First World War, best known for his innovative and effective training methods. Early life Ivor Maxse was the eldest ...

, commanding

18th (Eastern) Division The 18th (Eastern) Division was an infantry division of the British Army formed in September 1914 during the First World War as part of the K2 Army Group, part of Lord Kitchener's New Armies. From its creation the division trained in England ...

later wrote that Adlam’s bravery and example and also his skilful handling of his unit was ‘chiefly responsible for the success of the two companies of the Bedfordshire regiment, who cleared and made good the last bit of the Thiepval objective ...It was, in fact, a successful minor operation without which the main attack on Schwaben Redoubt could not take place’. When interviewed in 1973, Adlam declared: ‘Some officers would think that they had to do better than their own men. But if I found a man who could do something better than me I’d say ‘Well do that’. And I think they like it ... A man likes to be recognised as being a responsible person.’ Simkins would argue that this was an example of initiative being delegated down from division to the man on the spot, as early as the Somme battles. In civilian life, Adlam was a teacher at Brook Street School in Basingstoke and a member of the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NUT members endorsed a proposed merger with ...

. Adlam served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

with the Royal Engineers (Movement Control Section), and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. His Victoria Cross is displayed at

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

Guild Hall.News Item Adlam's Victoria Cross loaned to Salisbury Guild Hall
/ref> Adlam's voice was used in Peter Jackson's World War I film, ''They Shall Not Grow Old''.

Footnotes

References

ADLAM, Lt-Col Tom Edwin
Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2012

– The Bedfordshire Regiment in the Great War *

Monuments to Courage David Charles Harvey (29 July 1946 – 4 March 2004) was a historian and author. He is notable for his seminal work, ''Monuments To Courage'', which documents the graves of almost all recipients of the Victoria Cross, a task that took him over 3 ...

(David Harvey, 1999) *

The Register of the Victoria Cross ''The Register of the Victoria Cross'' is a reference work that provides brief information on every Victoria Cross awarded until the publication date. Each entry provides a summary of the deed, along with a photograph of the recipient and the fo ...

(This England, 1997) * VCs of the First World War - The Somme (Gerald Gliddon, 1994)

External links

Lieutenant Tom Edwin Adlam
– Imperial War Museum (with photo)

''(Hampshire)''

"Hampshire"

"Salisbury Guild Hall"
Imperial War Museum Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adlam, Tom Edwin 1893 births 1975 deaths British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II British Battle of the Somme recipients of the Victoria Cross Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment officers People educated at Bishop Wordsworth's School Royal Engineers officers People from Salisbury Schoolteachers from Hampshire Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Military personnel from Wiltshire