Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Samuel Gibson was born on 22 June 1882 at Pleasant Point, the son of Irish immigrants, Campbell and Catherine (née Crawford) Gibson. He started at Pleasant Point School at the age of five, leaving there after September 1893 to go out to work. On leaving school he engaged in farm related work in the South Canterbury area. Samuel’s mother died in 1911 at Pleasant Point. At this time Samuel was a labourer at Pleasant Point. His father remarried in 1912 and again in 1925 after being widowed for a second time. Campbell Gibson died in 1943 at Christchurch where he had lived for many years. Samuel Gibson, of the 24th Reinforcements, married Mary Ann Wilkins on 30 December 1916, at the Manse, Knox Church, Christchurch. He had been drawn in the first military service ballot for No. 10 (South Canterbury) recruiting district, in November 1916, when he was farming at Clandeboye. His new wife, residing at Pareora West (perhaps with her family) was his next-of-kin. Mary Ann would not see Samuel again after he embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Regiment on 9 June 1917 on the “Willochra”. He had spent three weeks in hospital in February 1916, suffering with pneumonia. In March 1917 he was admitted to the Casualty Hospital at Trentham for a month afflicted with herpes, and on 6 June 1917 while at Trentham Camp, he was admitted to the Cottage Hospital with influenza. Otherwise, he was in good physical shape. At Sling on 26 October 1917 he marched out for overseas duty with the 4th Canterbury Regiment, spent some days in camp at Etaples; on 10 November he joined his battalion at Rouen, and was detailed to Brigade School for a week before rejoining his battalion on 27 November. Just two weeks later – 11 December 1917 - he was killed in action in the field. All within a year, Samuel had married (December 1916), proceeded overseas for war service (June 1917) and had been killed in action (December 1917), with no further health issues while away. His death seems to have gone largely unnoticed in the district, the address being printed as Paeroa (instead of Pareora) in the Timaru Herald of 1 January 1918. His father, sister, Catherine Gaw, and brother, J. C. Campbell, all of whom lived in Christchurch, inserted a notice in Christchurch papers - “Deeply regretted.” Clandeboye, however, did not forget. In late August 1919 a tablet placed on the wall above the hall stage was unveiled – in “one of the most important ceremonies ever conducted in the district.” The memorial tablet contained six names, one of them being S. Gibson. Campbell Gibson remembered his dear son with an In Memorial notice in 1919 – “Peace, perfect peace.”, and again in 1920 – “Only a memory of bygone days.” Anzac Day 1924 was fittingly marked when a procession of school children and the general public, including many returned soldiers and relatives, marched to the Clandeboye Hall, where the memorial tablet to the fallen was hung and where those gathered paid honour to those whose names were inscribed on the memorial. Mingled with the feeling of grief were thankfulness and gratitude and above all pride in the great achievement, according to one speaker. The poem “In Flanders Fields” was rendered and Mr Gunnion, the Mayor of Temuka, opened his address with the words “Lest we Forget”. The soldiers whose names were inscribed on the memorial had given their all that we might live in peace, he impressed on the children, before finishing as he had begun – “Lest we Forget”. The names were read out, wreaths placed and the National Anthem sung. The Anzac Day 1930 observance in the Clandeboye Hall was simple, yet fitting and reverent. The Mayor stressed that it was the duty of the residents to see that the sacrifice made by their boys was kept green for ever. The Deputy Mayor noted that the day was a mark of gratitude and remembrance to those men who had fought and willingly given their lives that those gathered might retain their independence. With both pride and sorrow they honoured the memory of those men. He concluded his address with the quotation: “Their glory will never be dimmed, and for all time, at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” Hymns were sung, the names were read out, and floral tributes were placed at the foot of the memorial. A large gathering of residents, visitors and guests marked Anzac Day 1931 in the Clandeboye Hall with sixty minutes of solemn commemoration. The service opened with the hymn “O God Our Help in Ages Past” and the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. The Mayor of Temuka, Mr Gunnion, said that he was proud of the Clandeboye effort to remember, year after year. The chief speaker, Rev C. A. Kennedy, spoke thus: “We meet not to express pity for those who fell, but gratitude to them; we meet to express to those who still feel their loss most keenly not so much condolence as congratulation: because they offered the most costly gifts that anyone can offer for the cause of liberty and truth. . . . . . Of those who made the supreme sacrifice . . . We thank God for their splendid, self-denying devotion to duty, sacrificing all that a man holds dear . . . .” In an impressive closing to the service, hymns were sung, two minutes’ silence was observed, and the names on the memorial tablet were read aloud and clearly following the reading of the inscription: “Gone to their rest, The striving years are o’er. Their arms laid by, their fighting done. So it is best. Lord forgive their failings and their faults, and Take them home.” And the National Anthem was then sung enthusiastically. Another very touching service was conducted in 1932, to pay tribute to the memory of those men who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War, the Memorial Hall again being packed full. Stirring addresses, scripture readings, hymns and wreath laying honoured the loyalty, courage and sacrifice of those whom they were commemorating. Samuel’s medals were forwarded to his wife, then living at Pleasant Point. He left no will. His widow, Mary Ann Gibson, married William Earl Home in 1925, had three children, and lived to 1968. His brother Andrew Alexander Gibson, who also served in World War One, drowned in the Clarence River in 1926. Another brother Robert Mitchell Gibson served with the Australian Navy in World War One. His oldest brother, William Crawford Gibson, who had married in 1908 and had one child, was called up but did not serve; another brother, John Campbell Gibson, had also married, in 1912, and had four children when he was listed on the Reserve Rolls. The name of Private Samuel Gibson is inscribed on the Buttes New British Cemetery (NZ) Memorial, Polygon Wood, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium; and on the Timaru War Memorial Wall, the Temuka RSA Roll of Honour, the Temuka War Memorial, the Pleasant Point School Memorial, the Clandeboye Hall Memorial Tablet, and maybe St Mary's Anglican Church Timaru Memorial. A tablet to the memory of the ex-pupils of the Pleasant Point District High School who lost their lives in the Great War, was unveiled in June 1922. After the singing of the National Anthem, the chairman of the school committee addressed the gathering. “He was pleased to say that the ex-pupils of the school had nobly come forward at their country’s call, prepared to do or die in defence of what they considered right against might. He was sorry to say that twenty of these men had been called upon to make the supreme sacrifice, and those present were gathered that day to do honour to these fallen ex-pupils, by unveiling a tablet to their memory.” A prayer was offered, the hymn “O God our Help” was sung; a scripture reading was given, after which “Kipling’s Recessional” was sung. Mr T. D. Burnett, M.P., who unveiled the tablet, thanked the committee for the great privilege of being asked to do “honour to the brave sons of the district who had come forward prepared to do their utmost in their nation’s trial.” In pulling the tape, which let loose the Union Jack that was covering the tablet, Mr Burnett read the names of the deceased heroes – S. Gibson and eighteen others. A prayer by the Rev. Hinson, the hymn “Abide with Me,” and the sounding of the “Last Post” concluded the service. The tablet bears the following inscription. — “l9l4 For King and Country 1918.” In Memory of the Ex-pupils Of this School, Who gave their Lives In the Great War.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [20 October 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5539 0044455) [30 October 2013]; CWGC [21 October 2013]; Timaru Herald, 12 & 17 October 1908, 11 March 1911, 25 November 1916, 31 March 1917, 27 June 1922, New Zealand Times, 1 January 1918, 27 June 1922, Lyttelton Times, 18 January 1912, 9 January 1918, 11 December 1919, 11 December 1920, Sun, 9 January 1918, Temuka Leader, 30 August 1919, 29 April 1924, 26 April 1930, 28 April 1931, 26 April 1932, Press, 5 June 1943 (Papers Past) [23 & 29 October 2013; 16 September 2014; 15 & 16 May 2017; 29 April 2021; 28 August 2021; 09 & 12 June 2022]; NZ BDM historical indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [October 2013]; Electoral Rolls (ancestry) [29 October 2013]; School admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [2013; 15 May 2017]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file
• Other military personnel file

Related Documents

• Great War Stories - Private Samuel Gibson - Timaru Herald 3 June 2017 (pdf, 70.2 KB updated 15-Sep-2017)

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