He was educated at Cheltenham College between 1912 and 1915 before being accepted into the Royal Military Sandhurst in 1916.   After successfully attending Sandhurst he was commissioned as a Regular Officer into the Gloucestershire Regiment in July 1916 and, on 1st September 1916, was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps.

He saw considerable service on the Western Front being twice brought down.   On 1st March 1917 when serving with 4th Squadron Royal Flying Corps whilst flying BE2e, serial 5821, with his observer Lt G E Craig, he was in combat with 6 enemy aircraft and was shot down near Achiet le Petit and was seriously wounded requiring hospitalisation in the UK.   His actions on 1st March 1917 were recorded in RFC Communiqué No 77.

His services as an instructor were required and he was posted to 13th Training Squadron Royal Flying Corps, later, Royal Air Force, as a Wing Examiner.   The unit was based near Yatesbury, Wilts.   On 12th July1918 whilst test-flying an RE8 aircraft, serial number C2236, with fellow Cheltonian Lt F G Delmar-Williamson, the aircraft collapsed in mid-air over Chippenham and crashed to the ground, killing both airmen. 

Captain Gabell was buried on the 16th July 1918 at St Lawrence Churchyard, Swindon Village on the South boundary of the Church, and Lt Delmar-Williamson on 17th July 1918 at St Peter's Church, Leckhampton.

He is commemorated on the Cheltenham War Memorial, the Swindon Village War Memorial and on the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Roll of Honour.

The RE8 Aircraft

Remains of the RE8 aircraft in which Capt Gabell and Lt Delmar-Williamson were killed on 12th July 1918.

At the outbreak of war the Battalion was serving at Tientsin, North China, and was ordered to return to the UK, arriving at Southampton on 8th November 1914.   The Battalion joined the 81st Infantry Brigade, 27th Division, at Magdalen Camp, Winchester to complete work-up training for active service and moved to France on 23rd December 1914, disembarking at Le Havre.   The Battalion moved initially to Aire before taking over trenches in the Dickebusch Sector on 7th January 1915.   The Battalion saw active service in the St Eloi area in March 1915 and in the Frezenburg area of the Ypres Sector in May 1915.

In September 1915 the Division moved to under command of XII Corps, Third Army, in the south of the Somme sector in the area of Chuignes and Fontaine les Cappy.   It was at this time, on 24th September 1915, that he was promoted to the temporary rank of Captain to command a Company.

The Division was warned for service in Salonika and on 28th November the Division departed Marseilles for Salonika.   The 2nd Battalion disembarked at Salonika Harbour on 12th December and marched to Lembet Camp where the Division was placed initially in the British Salonika Force Reserve and, in January 1916, to XVI Corps.   On 21st January 1916 the unit went into the front line near Gomonic and remained there until late June when the Corps took over the River Struma front and the unit was engaged in minor actions and skirmishes with Bulgarian Army units.   On 26th September 1916 the XVI Corps was tasked to strike across the River Struma in the direction of Seres, capturing the villages of Karajakoi Bala and Karajakoi Zir on the east bank of the river.   During the night of 29th September that Battalion crossed the Struma and eventually took its objective of Bala.   The Battalion was engaged in further operations in the River Struma area and in early November 1916 was transferred to under command of 82nd Brigade, 27th Division, and on 6th December this Brigade was ordered to resume its attacks on Tumbitza Farm and at 11am an intense bombardment was delivered in this area in preparation for the infantry attack, from Rabbit Wood, to be carried out by 10th Bn Cameron Highlanders and 2nd Bn DCLI, with the Battalion in support.

At 11.30am the Highlanders attacked positions on the left bank of Tumbitza Stream but were driven back by overwhelming rifle and machine gun fire and withdrawn from the attack.  During this time the Battalion was unable to leave the wood at all; such was the weight of fire directed against them.  All day the machine guns kept the Battalion and the Light Infantry pinned down until the Gloucesters commanding officer, Lt Col K M Davie requested an artillery barrage as a prelude to the next attack. This began at 4pm and it appeared that the machine guns had been silenced but as soon as any movement was seen in the wood they opened up again making it impossible to advance.   It was decided to attack again the next morning, the 7th December, and the battalion spent an uncomfortable night in the open as they were under sustained machine gun and rifle fire right up until midnight.   At 6.45am the artillery began firing in support of the new attack and although the Battalion was able to cross the Tumbitza Stream they were soon pinned down and were unable to move without drawing heavy fire. They were finally pulled back at 6.30pm and withdrew to Pheasant Wood.

It was during these actions that Capt Garnier, 2Lt P H Nixon and 3 other officers were wounded and 33 other ranks killed or missing and 76 wounded   Denys Garnier died of wounds later on the 7th December at a Casualty Clearing Station at Struma and he is buried in Struma Military Cemetery, Plot V.J.5.   2Lt Nixon died on 18th December at a military hospital in Salonika.

His death was reported in The Times published on 12th January 1917.

His father died in 1904 and after the war his widowed mother resided at Chawton Cottage, Alton, Hants.

WO             

He was educated at

He served with the battalion whilst it underwent training for war in the UK.   The battalion left No 6 Camp, Sutton Veny, near Warminster, on the morning of 8th August 1915 and was shipped to France from Southampton later the same day disembarking at Le Havre by 7am on the 9th August.

He was educated at the Douglas School, Vittoria Walk, Cheltenham and, between 1898 and 1910, at Cheltenham Grammar School.   He then attended Jesus College, Oxford, gaining a BA degree in 1913.   He was subsequently appointed as Assistant Demonstrator in Science and Technology at South Kensington and also joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps.   At the outbreak of war he immediately volunteered for active service and was appointed to a Temporary Regular Commission in the Gloucestershire Regiment on 19th September 1914.

He served with the battalion whilst it underwent training for war in the UK and he was promoted to Lieutenant on 3rd November 1914 and to Captain on 6th July 1915, being appointed as Officer Commanding No 1 Company.   The battalion left No 6 Camp, Sutton Veny, near Warminster, on the morning of 8th August 1915 and was shipped to France from Southampton later the same day disembarking at Le Havre by 7am on the 9th August.

The battalion joined the 1st Infantry Brigade, 1st Division and underwent further training for field service and first entered the front line trenches, in front of Bethune, on 19th August 1915.   The battalion was then ordered to prepare for action in the 1st Division attack to break through the German first, second and third lines, with the battalion's specific objective being the village of Hulloch.   Following an artillery and gas bombardment the attack was delivered at 6.30am on 25th September 1915 with officers and men attacking over 400 yards of No Mans Land and through German wire entanglements.   Immediately in front of the battalion were the remains of a small copse called "Bois Carree" and enemy observation and machine guns posts had been deployed here.   Bois Carree had not been neutralised and as the battalion crossed No Mans Land, they suffered badly from sweeping enfilade fire.  The battalion's War Diary reports that "The officers fell, as the position of their bodies showed, leading their men, and 16 out of 21 officers were lost.   Captain Gibbs, as well as Capt J W C Tongue, Capt E H Moss, Capt E H Sale, Lt G W Robinson, Lt C A Symons, Lt H A Whiffin, Lt G G W Leary and 2Lt G W Field were killed and 2Lt P V N Neems died of wounds in the UK on 9th October 1915.

Capt Gibbs is believed to be buried in St. Mary's Advanced Dressing Station Cemetery, Haisnes, Special Memorial No A2.   The Dressing Station was established during the Battle of Loos, and the cemetery named from it is at the same place. The cemetery was made after the Armistice, by the concentration of graves from the battlefield of Loos; the great majority of the graves are those of men who fell in September and October 1915.

His death was reported in The Times published on 20th October 1915 and he is commemorated on the Cheltenham War Memorial, the Cheltenham Grammar School Roll of Honour and the St James' Church, Cheltenham, Roll of Honour.

WO 339/20172

He was appointed to a Territorial Force Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment TF on 2nd September 1914 and was posted for duty to the 1/5th Battalion which was formed from the first line troops of 5th Battalion in September 1914.   The unit became part of 145th Infantry Brigade, 48th (1st South Midland) Division and trained at Swindon and Chelmsford.  2Lt Guise was appointed as Officer Commanding 11 Platoon of "C" Company" and was with the Battalion when it embarked for France on 29th March 1915, landing and disembarking at Boulogne later the same evening.   The Division concentrated south-west of Ypres and the 1/5th Battalion were billeted at Steenvorde then at Meteren and after instruction, first took over trenches in the front line in the Ploegsteert Wood Sector, on 15th April 1915.

On Thursday 6th May 1915 whilst the Battalion was based as Brigade Reserve in Le Romarin, west of Ploegsteert, 2Lt Guise was instructing his platoon grenadiers in bomb-throwing when he accidentally exploded a "Jam tin" grenade which killed him and Pte T E Bates.   Both were buried in the Ploegsteert Wood Cemetery on 7th May, Lt Guise being buried in Plot III, Row D, Grave 8.   He was the first officer of the Battalion to be killed in the Great War.

His death was notified in The Times published on Wednesday 12th May 1915.   His name is inscribed on the Elmore War Memorial, near Hardwicke, Gloucester.