Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of James GLOSTER and Margaret Jane DOBINSON By 1897 he had left Victoria and was living in the goldmining town of Yalgoo in Western Australia .  Aerated Water Manufacturer in Yalgoo in partnership with Thomas R. JAMES as "James & Co." 1897-1901. In 1900 and 1901 he was also the Secretary of the Miner's Institute in Yalgoo. Storekeeper in the  goldmining town of Field's Find in partnership with Thomas R. JAMES as "James & Gloster" 1901-1903 . Storekeeper in Field's Find 1904-1908 and from 1905 to 1908 was also the Hotelkeeper of the Field's Find Hotel. Storekeeper in Harvey in partnership with his brother James D. GLOSTER 1909-1911. Hotelkeeper of the Freemasons Hotel in Busselton 1913-1916 .
Married widow Mrs Grace Edgar JAMES in Perth in 1916. Grace had been married to his former business partner Thomas R. JAMES, who had died aged 50 years on 18 March 1915. 
He was one of five of the 16th Battalion who were taken Prisoners of War by German forces at Riencourt, France 11/04/1917.  They had run out of bombs, were surrounded, and after another officer raised a white flag had been obliged to surrender The five of them were searched and questioned at German headquarters and then made to work as part of working parties.They worked under harsh conditions and for the first six months their captors didn't give them their Red Cross parcels or letters Worked in camps in France and Germany, during which time he wrote to a cousin in England asking for help,     requested that his cousin Mrs A. WESTLAKE inform his wife he was a Prisoner of War, and to send food parcels. Following the signing of the Armistice they were sent to Copenhagen, Denmark and were then repatriated to England by ship.

He travelled to London, England with his wife to see the coronation of King George VI on 12 May 1937, they departed Fremantle, Western Australia on the steamship Ascanius and arrived in Liverpool, England on 2 May 1937. They saw the coronation, and then just days before they were to return to Australia his wife fell down a flight of stairs and died. He departed London, England with his late wife's ashes on the steamship Cathay on 11 June 1937 bound for Fremantle. He resided in Moora until his death in 1948 

From the Irwin Index newspaper, Saturday 6 March 1948:
"Mr Alex. B. Gloster, who for many years conducted the Commercial Hotel at Moora, passed away at Claremont last week after a somewhat protracted illness. The late Mr Gloster, who was also a part-owner of the Coorow Hotel, served with the 16th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Forces in World War I, and for many years after his return to civilian life he was the victim of abnormal health conditions as the result of privations endured as a prisoner after having been captured at Bullecourt. The late Mr Gloster's wife predeceased him through a fatal accident which occurred whilst on a holiday visit to London."

Service Medals Awarded

British War Medal – No. 14287

Victory Medal – No. 14015