One of Oxford's most distinguished war heroes features in a new set of stamps to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Victoria Cross.

Oxford-born Noel Chavasse, the only man to win the medal twice during the First World War, is one of six men featured in the collection, which is being issued by Royal Mail tomorrow.

The Oxford-born doctor won the medals for his bravery while serving as a medical officer between 1914 and 1917 with the 1/10th Territorial Battalion of the King's (Liverpool) Regiment, known as the Liverpool Scottish.

Captain Chavasse is featured on one of two 64p stamps. The other shows Charles Lucas, who was awarded a Victoria Cross backdated to 1854 for serving in the Crimean War.

Last October, Captain Chavasse was remembered by staff at his old school, Magdalen College School, when a blue plaque was erected in his memory.

Mike Dalton, a spokesman for Royal Mail, said: "From the start, we wanted the Victoria Cross stamps to celebrate bravery rather than war, so the focus was firmly on the individual recipients of the medal.

"Thanks to the design of these stamps, millions of people up and down the country will have a chance to learn about their incredible acts of heroism."

As well as providing emergency treatment, Captain Chavasse was one of the first doctors to use anti-tetanus serum, the forerunner of today's vaccine, to protect wounded soldiers from infection.

He was awarded his first VC in 1916 after he continued tending wounded men in the open under heavy German fire at Guillemont, during the Battle of the Somme.

He refused to leave his post despite being wounded himself.

In 1917 he was offered a transfer to a hospital behind the front line, but refused, saying: "I don't think I could leave the young lads here to fight it out while I luxuriated in a coast town."

He suffered several more wounds until his death on August 4, 1917, two days after he was critically injured when a shell exploded in his dug-out during the third Battle of Ypres, in Belgium.

The announcement that he had been awarded his second VC, for his bravery rescuing and treating the wounded in the days before his death, came a month later.