Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

British War Medal 1914-20 (Major T. G. Gibson.) nearly extremely fine £60-£80

C.B.E. London Gazette 3 June 1949. 

Thomas George Gibson was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, on 10 March 1887, the son of Dr. Charles Gibson, and was educated at Epsom College, where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps and Rifle Volunteer Corps, and Pembroke College, Cambridge. On leaving university he was articled to a firm of solicitors and after qualifying became prosecuting solicitor for H.M. Customs in Leeds. When the Great War broke out he was a member of Leeds University O.T.C., and because of this and his academic background was offered a commission into the ‘Pals’ as temporary Captain on 25 September 1914, in command of ‘D’ Company, 15th (1st Leeds Pals) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment.

Gibson served in the Egyptian theatre of War from 22 December 1915 to 7 March 1916, helping to defend the Suez Canal where his Company was split between two locations, his being 13 and 14 Platoons based at ’50.8 POST’ about 31 miles from Port Said. On 10 February 1916, whilst in Egypt with the battalion, he was made Second in Command of ‘B’ Company. The Regiment later moved to Kantara before embarking for France on H.M.T. Ascania on 1 March 1916. In May 1916, he was given command of ‘B’ Company when its commander Major L. P. Baker was invalided home because of his head wounds, and he saw significant action with his Battalion on the Somme from 1 July 1916 onwards, being slightly wounded at Festubert on 26 August 1916, when a German sniper’s bullet grazed his nose as he ‘peered over the parapet’ (Battalion War Diary refers).

Gibson was appointed Second in Command of the Battalion from 16 October 1916 and was promoted acting Major on 7 December 1916 and temporary Major from 3 March 1917. On 2 January 1917 he assumed temporary command of the 15th Battalion in the absence of Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Taylor, who re-assumed command on the 31 January. He again commanded the Battalion in late February, before proceeding on leave in March 1917; on 8 May 1917 he again held command during the battle of Arras where he commanded ‘A’ and ‘B’ Companies in the support line on the Gavrelle Road). For his services he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 18 December 1917).

Gibson remained with the Battalion when it amalgamated with the 17th Battalion to form the 15th/17th Battalion in December 1917. During the first half of 1918 he assumed command of the 15th/17th Battalion several times and one of his proudest moments must have been when he presented Sergeant Albert Mountain with the riband of the Victoria Cross at a Battalion parade on 10 June 1918. As a temporary Major on the General List he was appointed Commandant of 5th Division Reception Camp on 15 July 1918 a position he held until the end of the year. Having served with the ‘Pals’ throughout their stay in Colsterdale, Egypt, France and Belgium, he was still serving with the Battalion when the war ended, after which he returned to the legal profession. He was present at the unveiling and dedication ceremony of the memorial cairn at Colsterdale on 28 September 1935, and remained a prominent member of The Leeds ‘Pals’ association and a committee member until his death. For his services as an Assistant Solicitor to the Board of Customs and Excise, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1949 Birthday Honours’ List.