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{{short description|Recipient of the Victoria Cross}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Harry Frederick Whitchurch
| honorific_suffix = VC
|birth_date={{birth date|df=yes|1866|09|02}}
|death_date={{Death date and age|df=yes|1907|08|16|1866|09|02}}
|image= Harry Frederick Whitchurch VC.jpg
|image_size =
|birth_place= [[Kensington]], London
|death_place=[[Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh|Dharmsala]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[India]]
|placeofburial=Dharmsala Churchyard
|allegiance= {{UK}}
|rank=Surgeon Major
|branch=[[British Indian Army|Indian Army]]
|battles=[[Lushai Expedition]]<br>[[Siege of Malakand|Malakand Frontier War]]<br>[[Chitral Expedition]]<br>[[Boxer Rebellion]]
|unit=[[Indian Medical Service]]
|awards= [[File:UK Victoria Cross ribbon bar.svg|30px]] [[Victoria Cross]]
}}
'''Harry Frederick Whitchurch''' {{post-nominals|size=100%|VC}} (22 September 1866 – 16 August 1907) was an [[England|English]] recipient of the [[Victoria Cross]], the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces.

Whitchurch was 28 years old, and a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|surgeon captain]] in the [[Indian Medical Service]], [[Indian Army]] during the [[Chitral (princely state)|Chitral]] [[Chitral Expedition|Expedition of 1895]] of 1895 when, on 3 March, the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

{{quote|sign=|source=|During the sortie from [[Chitral Fort]] of the 3rd March last, at the commencement of the siege, Surgeon-Captain Whitchurch went to the assistance of Captain Baird, 24th Bengal Infantry, who was mortally wounded, and brought him back to the fort under a heavy fire from the enemy. Captain Baird was on the right of the fighting line, and had only a small party of Gurkhas and men of the 4th Kashmir Rifles. He was wounded on the heights 'at a distance of a mile and a half from the fort. When Surgeon-Captain Whitchurch proceeded to his rescue, the enemy, in great strength, had broken through the fighting line'; darkness had set in and Captain Baird, Surgeon-Captain Whitchurch, and the sepoys were completely isolated from assistance. Captain Baird was placed in a dooly by Surgeon-Captain Whitchurch, and the party then attempted to return to the fort. The Gurkhas bravely clung to the dooly until three were killed and a fourth was severely wounded. Surgeon-Captain Whitchurch then put Captain Baird upon his back and carried him some distance with heroic courage and resolution. The little party kept diminishing in numbers, being fired at the whole way. On one or two occasions Surgeon-Captain Whitchurch was obliged to charge walls, from behind which the enemy kept up an incessant fire. At one place particularly the whole party was in imminent danger of being cut up, having been surrounded, by the enemy. Surgeon-Captain Whitchurch gallantly rushed the position, and eventually succeeded in getting Captain Baird and the sepoys into the fort. Nearly all the party were wounded, Captain Baird receiving two additional wounds before reaching the fort.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=26644|page=4021|date=9 December 1892}}</ref>}}

==Further information==
He later achieved the rank of surgeon major and died from [[enteric fever]].

==The Medal==
His VC is on display at the Lord Ashcroft collection in the [[Imperial War Museum]], [[Chelsea, London]].<ref name="Ashcroft">{{cite web | url=http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/vvashcr2.htm | title=Lord Ashcroft VC Collection | accessdate=13 March 2013}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[[Monuments to Courage]] (David Harvey, 1999)
*[[The Register of the Victoria Cross]] (This England, 1997)

==External links==
*[http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/britishguide/punjab_frontier_despatches/chitral_vc_victoria_cross.htm Major H.F. Whitchurch]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitchurch, Harry Frederick}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1907 deaths]]
[[Category:British recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:Indian Medical Service officers]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Chitral Expedition]]
[[Category:People from Kensington]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in India]]
[[Category:Deaths from typhoid fever]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Lushai Expedition]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Malakand Frontier War]]

Harry Frederick Whitchurch - Revision history

Bot at 11:38, 15 December 2022