Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

Harry Reginald Antony Streather (24 March 1926 – 31 October 2018) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

officer who served in the

Gloucestershire Regiment The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994. It traced its origins to Colonel Gibson's Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1694 and later became the ...

, and mountaineer who first-ascended the third-highest mountain in the world, on the

1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition The 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition succeeded in climbing the Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, for the first time. The expedition complied with a request from the Sikkim authorities that the summit should not be tr ...

, and

Tirich Mir Tirich Mir (also spelled Terich Mir, Terichmir and Turch Mir) is the highest mountain of the Hindu Kush range, and the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas–Karakoram range, at above sea level. It is located in the Chitr ...

. Streather was the first man ever to climb two peaks higher than .

Military career

Streather was originally commissioned into the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

where he saw service towards the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. He transferred to the

in 1947 and was immediately awarded his 'war rank' of lieutenant. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1953 and to

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

in 1967. In the

1965 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1965 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

he was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

and in the

1977 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1977 are appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1977. The awards were announced on 30 December 1976 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: Australia,Australia: Ne ...

he was promoted to

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

Mountaineering achievements

As a captain posted to the

Chitral Chitral ( khw, , lit=field, translit=ćhitrār; ur, , translit=ćitrāl) is situated on the Chitral River in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Chitral District and before that as the capital of Chitral ...

region of Pakistan, Streather was the official government representative in a Norwegian expedition that made the first ascent in 1951 of

(7,710 m), the highest mountain of the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Province ...

. He was initially appointed transport officer, but became a member of the successful summiting team.Jim Curran
Army Dreamer....... A Portrait of Tony Streather
/ref> On his return to Britain he was invited to join the

Alpine Club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...

(he later became its president from 1990–93), and was selected for trials for the

1953 British Mount Everest expedition The 1953 British Mount Everest expedition was the ninth mountaineering expedition to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest, and the first confirmed to have succeeded when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit on 29 May 1953. ...

. He was rejected for the latter because of a lack of technical experience, but nearly at the same time was invited to join the

1953 American Karakoram Expedition The 1953 American Karakoram expedition was a mountaineering expedition to K2, at 8,611 metres the second highest mountain on Earth. It was the fifth expedition to attempt K2, and the first since the Second World War. Led by Charles Houston, a m ...

, which attempted a far more technical route up K2, the second highest mountain in the world. Though again originally in charge of logistics, he climbed as high as anyone else and was involved in the dramatic events at 7,800 m. In 1955, Streather participated in the

, the third highest mountain in the world. With

Norman Hardie Norman David Hardie (28 December 1924 – 31 October 2017) was a New Zealand climber who was one of the climbers on the 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition who first reached the summit of the 8,586-metre (28,169 ft) mountain, the third ...

, he reached the summit the day after the first summit party of Joe Brown and

George Band George Christopher Band (2 February 1929 – 26 August 2011) was an English mountaineer. He was the youngest climber on the 1953 British expedition to Mount Everest on which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent of the mountai ...

. This made him the first man ever to climb two peaks of over . In 1957 he survived an epic near-ascent of

Haramosh Haramosh Peak (; also known as Haramosh or Peak 58) is a mountain located in the Karakoram range of the Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan. The Total population of haramosh Vellay at least 8000 people.according to researchers. Its height is also often ...

(7,397 m). In 1959 he led a successful expedition that included an ascent of

Malubiting Malubiting ( ur, ); also known as Malubiting West) is the second highest peak in the Haramosh Group of Mountains, a subrange of the Karakoram range of Pakistan. It is situated in the middle of Bilchar Dobani and Haramosh Peak in Haramosh va ...

Southeast (6,970 m). Streather led the

1976 British and Nepalese Army Expedition to Everest The 1976 British and Nepalese Army Expedition to Everest resulted in the successful summit of Mount Everest via its South Face on 16 May. This was the second time this had been achieved – less than a year previously, the 1975 British Mount Evere ...

, which successfully put two British Army climbers on the summit:

Bronco Lane Major Michael Patrick 'Bronco' Lane, MM, BEM (born 1945) is a former British Army officer and author, known for his climbing expeditions which led to his summiting Mount Everest in 1976. Background Born in 1945 in Manchester, Lane attende ...

and

Brummie Stokes John Henry Stokes MBE BEM (28 August 1945 – 10 January 2016), known as Brummie' Stokes, was a British Army soldier and mountaineer, known for his successful summit of Everest in 1976. Personal life Stokes was born in 1945 in Hamstead, then ...

Personal life

Streather married his wife Sue (nee Mary Huggan) in April 1956, and they had a daughter and three sons. Streather lived in his later years in the village of

Hindon, Wiltshire Hindon is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of Salisbury and south of Warminster. It is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Hindon was a market town but is now a v ...

. He died on 31 October 2018 at the age of 92.

Sir Chris Bonington Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL (born 6 August 1934) is a British mountaineer. His career has included nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest. Early life and expeditions Bonington's father ...

spoke at his memorial service in Hindon Parish Church.

References

External links

Interview with Tony Streather

Obituary in ''The Guardian''Obituary in ''The Herald''Obituary in ''The Times'' (subscription required)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Streather, Tony 1926 births 2018 deaths English mountain climbers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Presidents of the Alpine Club (UK) Indian Army personnel of World War II British Indian Army officers Gloucestershire Regiment officers