Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Flight Lieutenant H. Whittaker, Air Ministry, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, late Royal Engineers, who served as the first Principal of the Maclagan Engineering College (Lahore) from March 1923

British War and Victory Medals (Capt. H. Whittaker.); Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, G.V.R. (46 Sjt. H. Whittaker. 3/A.T.S.C. R.E.) minor scratch to obverse of VM, generally good very fine (3) £80-£100

Harry Whittaker was born in 1879 and educated at the University of London where he graduated B.Sc. around 1902. Appointed Associate of the City and Guilds Institute and Associate Member of the Institutions of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, he served during the Great War as Commandant of the 13th Corps Signal School, Royal Engineers. Proceeding to India, he was soon appointed to open the first engineering college in the Punjab - the Maclagan Engineering College - and was the first Dean of the Faculty of Engineering affiliated to the Punjab University. Transferring to the Royal Air Force as Education Officer in 1937, Whittaker enjoyed his final few years at Halton before dying in 1940. According to the Buckinghamshire Herald of 19 January 1940, he was: ‘the unique combination of the ideal teacher and the ideal sportsman... a genial personality [all round].’