Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The mounted group of eight miniature dress medals worn by Brigadier-General Sir George H. Gater, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, who subsequently served as Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies throughout the Second World War

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar, silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; 1914-15 Star; British War and Victory Medal, with M.I.D. oak leaves; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, silver-gilt and enamel; France, Third Republic, Croix de Guerre, reverse dated 1914-1917, bronze, mounted as worn, good very fine (8) £200-240

Provenance: Sold by Order of the Family.
Brigadier-General Gater’s full sized honours and awards were sold by Spink on 20 November 2008.

G.C.M.G. London Gazette 1 January 1944.

K.C.B. (Civil) London Gazette 12 June 1941.

D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1916.

D.S.O. Second Award Bar London Gazette 17 September 1917:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He led his battalion with brilliant skill and resolution during an attack, minimising their casualties during three days’ intense shelling by his able dispositions and good eye for ground. He directed the consolidation, and remained in command for three days, although severely wounded in the face early in the action.’

France, Legion of Honour, Officer London Gazette 22 November 1918.

France, Croix de Guerre London Gazette 6 November 1918.

Sir George Henry Gater was born at West End, Southampton, in 1886, and was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, where he read Modern History. After graduating, he studied for a Diploma in Education, teaching in Oxford before being appointed Assistant Director of Education for Nottinghamshire in 1912. On the outbreak of the Great War, he immediately applied for a posting, and was Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 9th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, on 22 August 1914. Promoted Temporary Captain on 31 December of that year, in June 1915 he went with his Regiment to Gallipoli, serving at Cape Helles and Suvla Bay, and was promoted Temporary Major on 25 July 1915. He Commanded his Battalion, October 1915-February 1916, a period which coincided with the withdrawal of the 9th Sherwood Foresters on the Evacuation of Gallipoli, and saw subsequent service in Egypt, December 1915 to June 1916, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and received the first of his four Mentions in Despatches (London Gazette 13 July 1916).
In July 1916 Gater arrived with the Regiment in France, and after a month of fighting transferred to take command of the 6th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, with the rank of Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel. The 6th Lincolnshires, part of the 33rd Brigade, 11th (Northern) Division, entrained at Frévent for Acheux on 2 September, and from there marched to Léalvillers, before taking over the trenches north of Ovillers on the Somme Front, on 12 September. Their first major action was the capture and consolidation of the Constance Trench, south-west of Mouquet Farm, during the night of 15 September, and a bombing attack on the Joseph Trench on the morning of 17 September. An enemy counter attack on the Constance Trench that evening was repulsed, in part due to the gallantry of Gater’s old Battalion, the 9th Sherwood Foresters. On 29 September they were in support of the 32nd Brigade’s attack on Stuff Redoubt, and were relieved the next day, and retired to Hédauville. For his services on the Somme Gater was again Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 4 January 1917).
The 11th Division moved onto Messines in June 1917, and it was here that Gater was awarded the Second Award Bar to his D.S.O., taking part in the advance on the Oosttaverne Line, and continuing to lead his Battalion despite being wounded in the mouth and ear by a shell splinter. Appointed Commander of the 62nd Infantry Brigade, with the rank of Temporary Brigadier-General, on 1 November of that year, Gater was Mentioned in Despatches for a third time (London Gazette 21 December 1917), before leading his Brigade as part of the 21st Division at the Battle of St. Quentin during the German Spring Offensive. On the first day of the Battle of the Aisne, 27 May 1918, Gater’s Brigade was ordered up to the Battle Zone in front and north of Cormicy. The following day they were attacked and during the course of the battle Gater received a machine gun wound below the left shoulder, but remained on duty. By the morning of 29 May the 21st Division had suffered a loss of approximately 150 officers and 3,600 other ranks. By August 1918 the 62nd Brigade was once again reformed as part of the 21st Division, and were in action at the Battle of Albert on 21 August. The Allied advanced pushed on, with Gater himself personally leading his men during the advance of the morning of 25 August, when in the face of heavy enemy machine gun fire the Brigade took Le Sars, an act of gallantry that would lead to his fourth ‘Mention’ of the War (London Gazette 20 December 1918). The War over, Gater relinquished his commission, with the rank of Brigadier-General, on 14 January 1919.
Returning to his educational work, he was appointed Director of Education for Lancashire County Council in 1919, taking charge of the County’s 630 Elementary Schools and 368 Secondary, Technical, and Evening Schools, before being appointed Director of Education, London County Council, in 1924. Created a Knight Bachelor in 1936, he was appointed Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1939, a job which he held throughout the Second World War, whilst also serving as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Security, 1939-40; Secretary, Ministry of Supply, 1940; and Secretary, Ministry of Home Security, 1940-42. Appointed K.C.B. in 1941, and G.C.M.G. in 1944, he retired in 1947, before being appointed Warden of Winchester College in 1951, serving his old school in this post for the next eight years. He died at home in Oxford on 14 January 1963.