Diary of Captain Walter Bagot-Chester covering the period 19 October 1916 to 1 December 1917 in Egypt and Palestine

After attending the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, Bagot-Chester was commissioned into 2nd Battalion, 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles, in September 1908. He was stationed at Lansdowne cantonment in Garhwal, India until October 1914 when his unit was despatched to Europe with 20th (Garhwal) Brigade.

After serving on the Western Front he was posted to the Suez Canal defences in October 1916 before joining the advance on Gaza in October-November 1917. For his actions there he was awarded the Military Cross for leading a raid on Outpost Hill. Bagot-Chester was badly wounded during a Turkish counter-attack at the Battle of Nebi Samwil near Jerusalem on 23 November 1917 but recovered to re-join his unit the following January.

Promoted to acting major, on 27 March 1918 he was mortally wounded by shellfire at Hill 1263 near Mughair Ahmed while supervising the consolidation of a recently gained position. His diary offers a unique eyewitness account of the struggle in the desert and also highlights the fighting prowess of the Gurkha soldiers he commanded.