Year of birth: 1895

Place of birth: Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom

Country: England, United Kingdom

Force: British Expeditionary Force

Rank: Private

Service number: 104290

Enlistment place: Ramsey, Huntingdonshire, England, United Kingdom

Units:  —  Machine Gun Corps, 117th Coy.  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 19/11/1917

Place of death: Polderhoek, Belgium

Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Age: 22

On the 15th of November 1917 the Machine Gun Corps 117th Company of the 117th Infantry Brigade, part of the 39th Division relieved the 118th Machine Gun Company in the Polderhoek Chateau area with 16 Machineguns. The 117th Company remained in the frontlines for four days.
On the 19th of November 1917 the 117th Company was relieved by the 118th Company of the Machine Gun Corps. They arrived at Stirling Castle at about 4.20 p.m. Notwithstanding difficulties of relief due to MG fire and the condition of the ground, relief was completed by 9.10 p.m. The 117th Company lost one man during the relief. The outgoing teams encountered heavy German Mg fire on the duckboards. One man was wounded and Private James Gilbert was killed during the relief by German MG fire. He fell in the morning of the 19th of November 1917 on ‘E’ Track at Polderhoek.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/839890

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=e755b3c2-4c9e-4584-94f6-5f81795047c9

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/1348085