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His 11 medals sold for £5800 in 2009. Military Cross, G.V.R.; 1914-15 Star (2 Lieut. G. H. S. R. V. De Gaury, Hamps. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. G. H. S. R. V. De Gaury); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Southern Desert, Iraq (Capt. G. H. S. R. V. De Gaury, Essex R.) this extremely rare to the British Army; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals; Coronation 1937; Iraq Active Service Medal, with clasp for Southern Kurdistan 1930-31
He wrote a number of books on Arabia. A wartime publication, Saudi Arabian Notebook (Cairo 1943) was followed by twelve other diverse works from Arabia Phoenix in 1946, an account of his first journey to Riyadh and the then new Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to Traces of Travel in 1983, an autobiographical selection of episodes and anecdotes from his life. His works included Rulers of Mecca (1950), a history of the Hashemite family who ruled Mecca for over a thousand years, and biographies of the ill-fated Hashemite dynasty in Iraq, Three Kings in Baghdad, and of the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, on whom he wrote an obituary notice for the Iraq Times. He was a founder member of the Anglo-Iraqi Society and was also the editor of the first edition in English of Through Wahhabiland on Camelback by Barclay Raunkiaer.
1897 Apr 1. Born Paddington, London.
1901 census at 1, Powis Gardens, Kensington
1911 census - his parents are at home, but he is not there.
1914 Aug 31. Commissioned 2nd Lt
1915 Jul 15. Landed in Balkans. He served in Gallipoli with the 10th Bn. Hampshire Regiment
1915 Aug 11. Hamps. R.—The undermentioned temp. Lts., from a Serv. Bn., to be temp. Lts. G. S. H. R. V. de Gaury
1915 Aug 10. Wounded at Chunuk Bair.
1916 Jul. He joined the 1st Bn. in France. He was with B Company 1 Hamps in the Battle of Arras, on the left flank, when he won his Military Cross. He commanded C Company 1 Hamps at the Battle of Broodseinde (Passchendaele, 4 October 1917), and was wounded during operations in the summer of 1918. He returned to 1 Hamps in August 1918, in command of B Company, and was wounded during the attack on Drocourt-Queant Line on 2 September 1918, shot down by machine-gun fire, some six bullets being later found in his right leg.
1917 Jul 18. M.C. London Gazette : Temp. Lieut. (acting Captain) Gerald Simpson Rutland Hillairet Vere De Gaury, Hampshire Regiment: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He displayed the greatest gallantry and initiative in organising and leading bombing attacks. Although subjected to heavy machine gun and rifle fire he captured an important enemy post. His fine example and disregard of danger were of great value to his men.’
1920 Jul 12 Joined RIC as Defence of Barracks Officer
1920 Aug 18. Transferred to ADRIC on Form 3. Service no 414. This seems to have been used for men that were already in RIC. Posted to C Coy He was given rank of Platoon Commander.
1920 Nov 16. Transferred to RIC as DI3. Nothing on RIC files
1920 Dec 11. Essex R. — Gerald Simpson Hillairet Rutland Vere de Gaury, M.C., from temp. Lt., Serv. Bn., Hampshire R., to be Lt. 11th Dec. 1920, with seniority 19th Aug. 1916,
1923 Dec 28. Leaves UK for Basra, Iraq
1924 Apr to 1927 Jan. Seconded to Iraq Levies
1926 Sep 13. Essex R.—The undermentioned Lts. to be
Capts. :—
G. S, H. E. V. de Gaury, M.C., and
remains seed.
N. E. Upton
1927 Feb to 1927 Sep. with the Iraq Army,and was specially employed under the Air Ministry, September 1927 to June 1928 and March to May 1930. He took part in the operations against the Akhwan in the Southern Desert of Iraq, from January to June 1928, and was one of a small handful of British Army officers to receive the medal with this clasp.
1928 Jul 7. Essex R.—Capt. G. S. H. E. V. de Gaury, M.C., to be Adjt., vice A. H. Blest.
1931 Apr GSM with clasp for service in RAF in Iraq
1930 Apr 2. Capt. G. S. H. R. V. de Gaury, M.C., Essex R., is graded (C1. FF) whilst specly. empld. under the Air Ministry. .
1930 May 25. He then get a Class BB grading, which he keeps till 1936
1935 he accompanied Sir Andrew Ryan, the first British Minister to Saudi Arabia, on his first visit to King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud at Riyadh.
1935 Mar 18. Arrived UK by ship from Algiers
1936 Jan 15 .Capt. G. S. H. R. V. de Gaury, M.C., Essex R., relinquishes his Cl. BB grading on ceasing to be empld. under the Air Ministry.
1936 Jul 15 He retires from the army on retired pay. Capt. G. S. H. R. V. de Gaury, M.C.
1936 - 1939 . He was Political Agent in Kuwait and in the winter of 1939-40 again visited Riyadh as special emissary to Ibn Saud. He returned to Iraq as special envoy to his friend the Regent, Prince Abdul Illah, during the Rashid Ali Revolt of 1941 and took part in liaison with the rebels leading to their surrender.
After the Iraq campaign de Gaury rejoined the Army to raise and commanded the Druze Cavalry which took part in General Maitland Wilson’s campaign against the Vichy French in Syria. His second-in-command in the Druze Cavalry was Wilfred Thesiger, another great Arab expert. Other wartime assignments, including attachment to the staff of the British Minister of State in Cairo, involved de Gaury in other Arab liaison missions, amongst these being the visit to the U.K. by Prince Faisal (later King of Saudi Arabia) in 1943.
1941 May 23. Appointed Charge d'Affaires in Iraq
1944 Oct 13. Left UK for Port Said
1953 Gold Staff at Elizabeth II's Coronation
1956 He negotiated copper and mineral exploration rights in Muscat and Oman,
1958 Jan 19. Leaves UK for Lagos
1961 He published "Three Kings in Baghdad, 1921-1958. [Faisal I, Ghazi, and Faisal II, the First Three Rulers of Iraq."
1962 at the age of 65 he visited the Imam’s cave stronghold in war torn Yemen.
1984 Jan 13. Died at his home in Brighton. Obituary Aged 86.
AIR 76/178/130