Hugh Lancaster Lithgow AM

b. 15/05/1868 Weymouth, Dorset.  d. 21/08/1945 Weymouth, Dorset.

DATE OF AM ACTION: 25/02/1908 Kirkee, India.

Hugh was the son of James and Emily Augusta Lithgow (nee Wills), and was baptised at Melcombe Regis, Dorset on 6th August 1868. Hugh had three older sisters and an older brother. Between 1886 and 1888, Hugh attended the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant on 17th February 1888. He was promoted to Major by October 1903, the rank he held when awarded the Albert Medal. He received his medal at a special parade in Poona, India on 1st January 1910 from Major-General Alderson, Commander of 6th (Poona) Division. Hugh retired from the Royal Artillery on 30th August 1911. He retired to Weymouth where he lived at 10 Bincleaves Road with two of his sisters.

 

AM CITATION:

On the 25th February, 1908, a violent explosion of blank gun cartridges occurred in the store of the 44th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, at Kirkee, India, and while the building was full of smoke, and it was impossible to tell whether a further explosion might follow, Major Lithgow and Sergeant-Major Stephens, hearing that Battery Quarter-Master Sergeant Dennis was in the burning building, at once went to his rescue through the dense smoke, and succeeded in bringing him out, though unhappily he was so seriously hurt that he succumbed to the injuries sustained.

 

BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.