Captain Walter Bagot-Chester (left) with troops of 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles in a front line trench, 1917

Photograph, World War One, Egypt and Palestine (1914-1918), 1917.

The 3rd Battalion 3rd Gurkha Rifles was raised in Egypt in January 1917 from a cadre of the 2/3rd Gurkha Rifles alongside a draft of new recruits. It joined 233rd Brigade, and in June 1917 took over a section of the defences near Rafa in Palestine before joining the advance on Gaza in late October, where it first went into action.

Bagot-Chester was awarded the Military Cross for leading a raid on Outpost Hill during the latter operation. The following March he was mortally wounded by shellfire near Mughair Ahmed while supervising the consolidation of a recently gained position.

Photograph from the diary of Captain Walter Greville Bagot-Chester (1887-1918), 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles, covering the period, 19 Oct 1916 to 1 Dec 1917 in Palestine and Egypt.