Chitral Campaign Victoria Cross Recipient. He received the award from British Queen Victoria at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, England on July 27, 1895 for his actions as a surgeon captain in the Indian Medical Service, British Indian Army on March 3, 1895 during the Chitral Expedition in British India. Born in Kensington, Greater London, England, he joined the British Indian Army following his medical education and participated in the Chitral Expedition (1895), the Siege of Malakand (1897, in present-day Pakistan), and the Boxer Rebellion (1900, China). He later achieved the rank of major and died from enteric (or typhoid) fever in Dharmsala, Punjab, India at the age of 40. His Victoria Cross citation reads: "Chitral Fort, North West Frontier, India, 3 March 1895, Surgeon Captain Harry Frederick Whitchurch, Bengal Medical Service, Indian Army. 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 firing 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." In addition to the Victoria Cross, he also received the India General Service Medal (with Looshai 1889-90 clasp), the India Medal (with Defence of Chitral 1895, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, and Malakand 1897 clasps), the Jamoo and Kashmir Medal (with Chitral clasp), and the China War Medal 1900 (with Relief of Peking clasp). His Victoria Cross and other medals are retained by the Lord Ashcroft Collection in the British Imperial War Museum, London, England.