Name
Ronald Charles Melbourne Gibbs
26/8/1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
28/10/1914
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Scots Guards
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 11
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
He has no Headstone. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial to the missing
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Baptist Church Memorial, Aldenham, St John the Baptist Church Roll of Honour, Aldenham, Individual Plaque, St John the Baptist Church, Aldenham, Letchmore Heath Village Memorial, Wellington House School WW 1 Memorial. Westgate-on-Sea, Kent
Pre War
Ronald Charles Melbourne Gibbs was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 26 August 1894, the son of The Hon. Henry Lloyd Gibbs and The Hon. Alice Mary (nee Crutchley) Gibbs, he was one of five children.
1901 Census records Ronald aged 6, living with his mother and sister Helen (5), at 10, Lennox Gardens, Chelsea, London/Middx. The family had 8, live-in Domestic Servants. His father Henry was a South American and Australian Merchant, who was away on business at the time of the 1901 Census.
His father The Hon. Henry Lloyd Gibbs died in September 1907, aged 46.
The 1911 Census records Ronald as a Boarder at Eton Collage, Eton, Berks
Ronald was educated at Wellington House, Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, from there he went to Eaton Collage. He rowed for Eton in 1913, and was a Sergeant in the Eton Collage OTC.
He received a Commission in the Special Reserve of Officers in September 1913, joining the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards at Aldershot.
He was the grandson of Henry Hucks, 1st Baron Aldenham and Nephew to 2nd Lord Aldenham, Aldenham House
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war Ronald was with the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards, stationed at Lyndhurst. They sailed for France on 4th October 1914, to join the BEF.
Ronald was Killed in Action just 24 days later on the 28th October 1914, (SDITGW give date of death as 29th October 1914, and cause of death, Died of Wounds, this does not correspond with other records).
On the evening of 28th October, the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards were sent from Hooge to support the Grenadier Guards at Gheluvelt, at about 11pm, while on the Menin Road, two shells hit them, killing seven men, Ronald being one of them, other shells followed causing further casualties.
His Battalion was part of the 20th Infantry Brigade, 7th Division.
He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial to the missing in Belgium. Panel 11. From the Scots Guards Records, he was buried in the grounds of a Chateau at Gheluvelt, west of the village, but this grave must have been lost.
Additional Information
His medal card indicates he was awarded the British War & Victory Medals and a Clasp, but not the 1914 Star. The value of his effects was £46-10s-2d, which went to his mother Alice. Also on Wellington House School Memorial
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne, Taff Williams
Jonty Wild
