Samuel Gibson – Royal Garrison Artillery
Samuel was born on 6 February 1881 to Abraham and Sarah Gibson (nee Riley) at Braddocks Farm, Wincle, where he lived with his siblings until he married Ethel Maude Plant in 1905. The couple moved to Cherry Tree Cottage where sons Sydney, Wilfred and Harold were born.
He was working as a gardener for the Jennison family at The Cottage, Wincle, when was called up to be a gunner (no. 131643) in the Royal Garrison Artillery on 9th December 1916 (he had attested his willingness to join up a year earlier!). He was initially posted to Fort Brockhurst, Gosport, on the English coast until May 1917 when he was sent to France to join 342 Siege Battalion, a howitzer battery on the western front. In December 1918 he wrote a letter to his son Sydney in which he said they were now in a village in the Ardennes “a very pretty spot, all hills and valleys and nice little streams. It is a great change from the shell battered places I have been in the last two years, but I would much rather be in Wincle.”
He was working as a gardener for the Jennison family at The Cottage, Wincle, when was called up to be a gunner (no. 131643) in the Royal Garrison Artillery on 9th December 1916 (he had attested his willingness to join up a year earlier!). He was initially posted to Fort Brockhurst, Gosport, on the English coast until May 1917 when he was sent to France to join 342 Siege Battalion, a howitzer battery on the western front. In December 1918 he wrote a letter to his son Sydney in which he said they were now in a village in the Ardennes “a very pretty spot, all hills and valleys and nice little streams. It is a great change from the shell battered places I have been in the last two years, but I would much rather be in Wincle.”
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Samuel Gibson’s letter to his son Sidney in February 1917
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Samuel was discharged on 29th January 1919 and awarded a Victory and British War Medal. A family story is that on return from the army his wife wouldn’t let him in the cottage till he had been ‘deloused’ in a bath. A daughter Ruth was born in 1920. Ethel died unfortunately in 1934 by which time the family were living in Lilac Cottage in Wincle. Samuel remarried in 1939, to Bessie Ball. He continued to work as a gardener at Mellor Knowl, now for the Granthams (Millicent Jennison had married John Grantham and they had rebuilt the house). Another memory is of him struggling up the steps above the Ship to get to the drive of the house. He used to complain about his knees – “a war injury” he said. Samuel died on 30th October 1963, still at Lilac Cottage, Wincle.
Samuel’s cousin John Gibson also appears on the Wincle War Memorial. Samuel Gibson (Sam) (L), son Harold, second wife Bessie >
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Credits
Brian Gibson, Derek Riley
Brian Gibson, Derek Riley