Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Born in late 1876 and known to family and friends as Jack, Frederick John Gibbons was the only son of John and Sarah Gibbons from Eynsham Oxfordshire - He was the son of my great, great uncle so I think that makes him my third cousin...

His parents died very young leaving him an orphan at ten years old.

Following the death of his mother, he shows up in the 1891 census aged 14 and living with the family of school master Mr James Bell. He attended the nearby grammar school.

In 1901 he was living in Abbey St, Oxford and is listed as head of the household, occupation Brewer and Wine Merchant. By 1911 he is living with relatives William and Elizabeth Simmonds (Coal Merchants) and is still a Brewer.

Although I can find no travel records of him coming to Australia, he turns up in Launceston Tasmania, where he lived at a house in Frederick Street (ironic) and is listed as a Grocer. I thought it must be an anomaly until I found a copy of his Will which places him very firmly in the family!

Filling in the blanks he appears to have been taken under the wing of his spinster aunt Annie Ruth Gibbons who took an interest in the boy and made sure he had an education.

Records show him enlisting for military service in Tasmania at the age of 37 years and 10 months. He departed Melbourne on HMAT Armidale with the 26th Battalion on 20 September 1915, rank Private.

He was first reported as missing and then killed in action at the Somme on 29 July 1916, by which time he had been promoted to Lance Corporal. Frederick is remembered at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. His Army records are quite sad. The language of wartime is quite brutal which given the catastrophic losses, it’s hardly surprising really.

The twist in the tale is that before leaving Australia, he was engaged to be married to a Miss Lilian Agnes Finlayson, a Milliner who lived in Brisbane Street, Launceston West, Tasmania. Even though he had assigned his pay to her while he was on active service it appears the Army were not prepared to give her any information about her fiancé. Stating they would only notify his next of kin Miss Ann Ruth Gibbons who had pre-deceased him by several months.

He must have been aware of his Aunts death as he made a new will shortly before he was killed. His unfortunate fiancé was given no information or comfort and all his personal effects were returned to his Aunt Sarah J Smallhorn (Gibbons).

Frederick left an estate valued at £1301 and 9 shillings. Whether or not Lilian ever received the bequest of £350 from his Will I can’t say. The last record I could find for her is in 1917 where she was recorded on the electoral role at the Brisbane St address, then she just seems to have simply disappeared. Thanks to the wonderful digital archives I was pleased to discover she married Mr Reginald F C Southam in 1922 and went on to have two children.