Alexander Gatehouse

Major-General Alexander Hugh Gatehouse, (20 May 1895 – 21 August 1964) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the 10th Armoured Division during the North African campaign of the Second World War.

Military career Gatehouse joined the British Army and, after graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Northumberland Fusiliers in October 1914 and fought in the First World War. He was promoted to lieutenant in May 1915. He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in September 1918, the citation for which reads:

In November 1918, with only a few days left in the war, Gatehouse was awarded a Bar to his MC. The Bar's citation stated the following:

Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery and Brigadier Philip "Pip" Roberts (pointing) stand on the turret of a Crusader tank to survey the battle area, 6 September 1942. Major General Alexander Gatehouse is pictured standing in front of them.

After the war Gatehouse transferred to the Royal Tank Corps (later the Royal Tank Regiment) in 1931. His permanent rank was advanced to colonel on 6 November 1940, with seniority backdated to 1 July, and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in December 1941 and a Bar to the award in January 1942. Having led the 10th Armoured Division at the Battle of Alam el Halfa in September 1942 and then the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, he became major general in charge of administration at Washington D.C. at the end of the year, and military attaché in Moscow in 1944 before retiring in 1947. they had one son, Sir Robert Alexander Gatehouse, a Judge of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court).