Private Edward Gibson

Private Edward Telford Gibson, 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He died from wounds suffered during the Battle of Loos, aged 21, in France on the 27th September 1915. He had been born in Selkirk in 1894 and was the son of Thomas and Hannah Gibson of 5 Glebe Terrace, Selkirk. He had been wounded on the 25th September on the first day of the Battle and died in the 1st Casualty Clearing Station at Chocques and is buried in Chocques Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Before enlisting in August 1914 he had been a gardener at Philliphaugh, Selkirk and then Strowan Gardens, Monzievaird, Perthshire. He enlisted in Crieff and joined his Battalion in France in April 1915. The first photo shows Highlanders moving up to the line at Loos before the attack. The second photograph shows troops in an actual assault at Loos with the troops disappearing into a ghostly cloud of gas and smoke. This was the first time the Army had used gas in the War. The third shows the village of Loos after capture. ( There is an excellent account of the Battle to be found on ” The Long Long Trail” website ). The artist’s illustration shows a Battalion attack led by their pipers