Whitehouse Millicent Mrs.

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Biografie:
geborene Wood; verwitwete McArthur

Mrs. Millicent Whitehouse d. 1984
Millicent Wood was born in Aberdeen and she read psychology at Cambridge. Thereafter her distinguished career in the Civil Service took her to London where she served for many years on the Civil Service Selection Board, interviewing and assessing candidates for the Foreign Service and other senior posts.
She was elected to the Ladies' Alpine Club in 1951 and served on the LAC committee from 1956 to 1958.
Millicent loved travel, which was a recurrent theme throughout her life. She was an entertaining companion with a very individual, never-failing sense of humour. Her climbing interests developed when she joined the Cairngorm Club and met her first husband, Hamish McArthur (AC), who shared in, indeed inspired, many adventurous holidays in the Scottish hills, the Alps and, latterly, the Himalaya.
In the immediate post-war years, Millicent and Hamish must have been among the first British to return to the Alps when they went on a walking/climbing trip to Switzerland in 1946. This started a series of marvellous summer holidays in which, with one or two companions, they explored the Alps from end to end, crossing passes, climbing peaks, sometimes joining an ABMSAC meet for part of the time. I was privileged to take part in five of these wide-ranging excursions and, each time on my return home, was amazed at the ground we had covered, the variety of experiences encountered and the number of summits gained – from Monte Viso to Triglav, from the Cinque Torre to the Grepon. One year started in the Alpes Maritimes from Nice and another in the Julian Alps from Venice and Ljubljana; in all, areas ranging from Zermatt, Chamonix, Bernese Oberland and Pontresina to the Austrian Tyrol, the Lienzer and the Italian Dolomites were covered in some detail.
In 1955 Millicent and Hamish, with Babs and Frank Solari, made their first Himalayan expedition to the then little visited Spiti area of Lahul. A virgin peak of 6130m was climbed, and surveying (and subsequently mapping) of the area successfully achieved. Millicent had problems with altitude above 4500m and therefore could not go really high, but she found extreme pleasure in the variety and beauty of the flowers, and in meeting the local people. The success of this venture led to a second expedition in 1958 (with support from the Everest Foundation) also starting from Manali but turning west down the Chandra valley and reaching over 5700m in the mountains at the head of the Thirot Nala. Tragedy struck on this occasion when Hamish died suddenly at the highest camp.
In 1962 Millicent married Harry Whitehouse (AC) and together they enjoyed extensive travel involving energetic walking and, sometimes, skiing. Also, when appropriate, following Harry's enthusiasm for astronomy which has taken them to some spectacular observation areas to watch an eclipse, or the blast-off of an Apollo or Columbus space probe. J remember enthusiastic postcards from Peru, Kashmir, Nepal, Mauritius, Kenya, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan and, latterly, from favourite parts of the USA - in California, Florida and New Hampshire which they visited often in search of sunshine and good walking.
In the course of this life full of variety, and due to her own unique personality, Millicent had a wide circle of friends in many places who will miss her badly. Our sympathy goes to Harry in his irreparable loss and to her sister, Dorothy.
Margaret Munro
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 90, 1985, Seite 284-285


Gestorben am:
1984