Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Joseph Gilbert of Pewsey Vale, Lyndoch, South Australia was born in 1884 and named after his remarkable grandfather who actually named Pewsey Vale after his birthplace in England.

Joseph senior was a highly successful grazier and vigneron who is probably best known for being the man who pioneered the wine industry in the Barossa Valley, South Australia.  One of his five sons William, an outback cattle pioneer was married and with his wife Mary, had nine children one of whom was Joseph Gilbert junior.

Joseph attended the School 1898 -1902 and demonstrated remarkable ability as a gymnast; he won a gold medal in his final year as captain of the intercollegiate gymnasium team.

His brothers John, Henry and Thomas also attended the School and all served in the Great War.

After leaving school, Joseph entered the Adelaide University and after gaining his degree in science there in 1907 moved to England in 1909. There he was on the electrical engineering staff of the Westinghouse Co., Manchester and serving part time in the Territorials with the 1st/6th Battalion Manchester Regiment. [i]

In September 1914, he sailed from Southampton with his unit, and after arduous training in Egypt, the 1st/6th Battalion landed at Gallipoli on 6 May 1915. [ii]

A junior NCO evacuated wounded from Cape Helles to Egypt later wrote about the death of his friend Joseph Gilbert and in the letter said that at around 9 p.m., on 27 May, after a short advance, his unit dug in on what he described as generally soft ground, which made for easy digging.

Private Gilbert struck an unusually hard patch and was wounded in the abdomen. He was moved to one of the Casualty Clearing Hospitals and died the next day. [iii]

The official notice regarding his death from the Territorial Records Office, Preston, England was printed in the August 1915 is of the School Magazine.

 It is my painful duty to inform you that a report has this day been received from the war notifying the death of Private Joseph Gilbert which occurred at the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on May 28th, and I am to express to you the sympathy and regret of the Army Council at your loss. 

The cause of death was died of wounds, and accompanying this official notice was this short note.

The King commands me to assure you of the true sympathy of His Majesty and the Queen in your sorrow. - Kitchener. [iv]

2174 Private Joseph Gilbert, 1st/6th Battalion, Manchester Brigade was wounded on 27 May in the struggle for Krithia and died of wounds the following day; he was 30 years of age. 

In 1917, his brother, Lieutenant John Driffield Gilbert (OS) 56th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps was also killed. Captain Henry Gilbert (OS) served as a medical officer in the Australian Army Medical Corps and returned to Australia in 1916. Lieutenant Thomas Gilbert, (OS) Royal Flying Corps survived the war.   

[i] St  Peter’s School Magazine - W K Thomas & Co, Adelaide, May 1911, p. 38
[ii] James, E A, Historical Records of British Infantry Regiments in the Great War 1914-1918, Rank Xerox Copy Bureau, p. 149
[iii] St  Peter’s School Magazine - W K Thomas & Co, August 1915, p. 64
[iv] ibid