The Collection of British Orders, Decorations and Medals formed by the late Fred Rockwood

A Great War Palestine operations M.C. attributed to A. G. R. Whitehouse, Herefordshire Regiment, who was killed in action in France in August 1918

Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved, ‘A. G. R. Whitehouse, 1st Herefords, Palestine 1917-18’, good very fine £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of British Orders, Decorations and Medals formed by the late Fred Rockwood.

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M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918.

Augustus George Richard Whitehouse was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Herefordshire Regiment direct from Oxford University’s O.T.C. in September 1914. Embarked for Egypt with the 1st Battalion in the following year, he landed in Gallipoli in early August 1915, and remained actively employed on the peninsula until the unit’s evacuation at the year’s end, in which period it particularly distinguished itself in the fighting at Azmak Dere.

Subsequently employed in Egypt and Palestine, the 1st Herefordshires were present at the battle of Rumani, the assault on Ali Muntar, and all three battles of Gaza, in addition to the actions at Beersheba and Khuweilfeh, and the advance on Jerusalem - and greatly distinguished themselves at “Drage Hill” and “Chipp Hill”, named after the Battalion’s C.O. and Adjutant.

Awarded the M.C. and twice mentioned in despatches (London Gazettes 13 July 1916 and 12 January 1918, refer), Whitehouse was advanced to the temporary rank of Major and embarked for France in the summer of 1918. But during the subsequent Allied advance on 1 August, he was surprised by a party of the enemy who appeared from a dugout and shot him dead. A native of Ross-on-Wye, and the son of the Rev. George Whitehouse, he was buried in Raperie British War Cemetery.