Gates, Terence Horatio, 1908-1944

Gates, Terence Horatio, brother of Ralph Charles Gates (qv); b. 17 Nov. 1908; adm. Jan. 1923 (A); left. Dec. 1925; Selwyn Coll. Camb., matric. 1928, BA 1931; RA 1940-4 (Lieut.); m. 18 Jan. 1936 Margery Helen, d. of Col. Sir Henry George Lyons RE, Fellow and Treasurer Royal Soci­ety; killed in action (Burma) 1944.

Terence Horatio Gates was born in Italy on the 17th of November 1908 the younger son of Dr Edward Alfred Gates MD OBE OW, Medical Officer at Westminster School, and Mary Elizabeth (nee Fowler) Gates of 9, Cambridge Square, Paddington in London. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from January 1923 to December 1925. He matriculated for Selwyn College, Cambridge in 1928 and was awarded a BA in 1931.
He was married on the 18th of January 1936 to Margery Helen (nee Lyons) of York Terrace, Regent’s Park; they lived at Flat 2, 28, Cleveland Square, Lancaster Gate in London. They had two daughters, Christine Mary, born on the 24th of May 1937 and Hester, born on the 3rd of July 1939.
He attended an Officer Cadet Training Unit before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on the 2nd of November 1940. He transferred to the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment and was later appointed as Battalion Intelligence Officer.
In March 1944 the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment formed No. 16 and No. 61 Columns of the Chindit operation code named Operation Thursday. The operation was to penetrate deep behind Japanese lines and was made up of 45 columns, each of 400-450 men and 60 mules. They were to attack Japanese supply lines, cutting roads, bridges and railway lines and to attack their troops at every opportunity. The leading elements of the Chindit force began its long march into enemy territory on the 5th of February 1944 with the last column following on the 22nd of February. They created air strips in the jungle to allow resupply and to evacuate casualties.
Terence Gates left his column on the 18th of June 1944 with two Kachin policemen and headed for Chaungwa where they were to recruit and organise small parties of Kachins to use for scouting. Three days later he was recruiting in a village when he learned from the villagers that there was a large party of Japanese troops in the area. He then set out for the village of Mapyin and, as he was approaching it, he saw two Japanese soldiers sitting on a tree trunk outside the village and opened fire on them. He immediately came under fire from Japanese troops hidden in nearby bushes and was shot in the stomach. He died a short time later.
He is buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery Plot 7, Row D, Grave 23.

Lieutenant 155402; Royal Artillery attached to the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire

International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition

Prepared for import into AtoM by Westminster School Archive staff, 2019-2020. Updated by Bethany Duck, Archives Assistant, September 2022.

The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from Play 1919 to Election 1989, Volume 4, compiled by F.E. Pagan and H.E. Pagan, Padstow, 1992.

Westminster School Second World War Memorial by John C. Hamblin, 2022.