Private Joseph Gibson

Private Joseph Gibson, 7th/8th( Service ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in France, aged 47, on 25th December 1916 whilst the Battalion was holding trenches near Albert on the Somme and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, France. He had been born in Eyemouth and was the son of the late Alexander and Esther Gibson of Eyemouth and the husband of Christina Gibson of Edinburgh. He had served his apprenticeship as a baker with his father in Eyemouth before moving to Edinburgh where he enlisted. He joined his Battalion in France in December 1915. He was quite old for a Soldier in the front line. Conditions on the Somme after the autumnal rains were atrocious as can be seen from the photographs.