Henry Langtip was born at Port Albert, Victoria, in 1888. Known as Harry, the 27-year-old farmer enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 25 January 1916. His brothers Bertie and Leslie enlisted at the same time and another brother, Ernest, enlisted the following day. All four brothers were allocated to the 4th Light Horse Regiment, and after several months of training they departed Melbourne aboard HMAT Itria on 18 April 1916.

For the remainder of the year Henry Langtip and his brothers participated in training and performed mostly guard duty in the Suez Canal zone with the 1st Light Horse Double Squadron and then the Imperial Camel Corps. In February 1917 the brothers were transferred for the last time to the 4th Light Horse Regiment. In his diary Henry recorded the events of 31 October when, after a long and terrible ride through the desert all night, he and his brothers participated in the famous charge at Beersheba that helped break the Turkish defensive line. The unit moved into Palestine and then Transjordan, participating in several further raids and battles. Langtip's brother Leslie was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions in the advance towards Damascus.

On 15 June 1919 Langtip and his brothers embarked for home with the rest of their regiment. All four brothers had survived the war and some of the most daring feats in the Egyptian and Middle East campaigns. War would return to the region some two decades later and on 12 November 1940, while Axis forces bombed the towns of Palestine, Henry Langtip died at Rutherglen, Victoria.