Person

John Walcote Gamble was born in Derby on 8 April 1894, to Ernest and Constance Gamble. He was third of four children, with an older brother and sister, and a younger sister. On the 1901 census, his father was working as a boot factory warehouseman, but in 1911, he was boarding away, working as a dairyman’s clerk. On the same census, John is 16 years old and working as a printer’s clerk. This type of work was common in the family. John’s older brother, Charles, was a surveyor for the council, but during the war, spent two years as a clerk with the Royal Engineers, before going to Salonica, where he contracted malaria and returned to England.

In 1914, John enlisted in the public schools battalion at Ashtead, Surrey. He was commissioned into the 16th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, in the October, he was transferred to 14th Battalion for active service. Second Lieutenant Gamble entered France on 10 October 1915, a month after the battalion first went out, joining them at Armentieres, and going straight to the front line. During his service, he wrote letters home, which were later made into a typescript bound volume.

The letters provide a lot of detail about daily life, and about Gamble’s surroundings. When discussing the latter, he has the ability to look beyond the war and consider how an area might have been before. This is especially evident in a piece of prose he wrote in May 1916, titled ‘Pencillings, or Pennings at Dusk’.

From December 1915 to January 1916, Gamble was commanding C Company. On 8 January, however, he was sent to hospital. In his letter of 5 January, he writes, ‘I’ve been feeling seedy, can’t get the effects of gas off my throat and chest… Doctor wanted me to go to hospital yesterday, but I’m not keen on doing that…’ The doctor obviously won a few days later.

Gamble re-joined the battalion on 1 February, commanding B Company, before going on leave at the end of the month, and was able to spend some time at home.

April and May 1916 saw 14th Battalion in the Ypres Salient. On 30th April, Gamble was mentioned in despatches, the notice appearing in the London Gazette on 13 June. In the Gazette of 28 June, he appeared having been promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant from 18 July 1915.

However, Gamble was to know about these notices. On 21 May, he was shot by a sniper while in the front trenches. Lieutenant Colonel George Feilden Menzies, the commanding officer of 14th Battalion, wrote to Gamble’s mother saying, ‘…a bullet passed through his arm, entered the left side, and came out in the middle of his back. Our medical officer went up into the trenches to see him. He was asked if he had any message. He said, “No, he thought he would pull through”’. He died early the following morning in No.10 Casualty Clearing Station.

John Walcote Gamble is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinghe, Belgium.

Extracts from letters:
13 October 1915
This town which was once one of France’s beautiful places presents a very miserable aspect now. The lighting was knocked out long ago; there are few windows left; and shell and bullet-marks everywhere; no sanitation either, except military, which is not nice.
(Code) “Arriving roughly midnight, entailed nothing terrible indeed, except rotten explosive shells”. = Armentieres

23 December 1915
Our casualties are bad, but the men were absolutely splendid, and the divisional general has complimented our battalion on the way we repulsed the attack and stuck the horrible experience.

The effect of the whole show on one’s nerves defies definition, but with all those millions of tons of high explosives flying about, it seems as if something must break in the head – but one just hangs on and hopes.

12 January 1916
I’m in an awfully comfy spot. It seems just like Fairyland after the five months in the trenches and that last shocking month in the salient. To get between snow-white sheets, in a big airy room with a cheery fire crackling away merrily was just sublime to start with, and the food (although not full diet for me) is just topping.

19 February 1916
At present, the burning questions assailing me are – will the Bosche make another attack before the 24th? – shall we suddenly get a crump-shell into our dug-out when all the company officers are having a hurried snack and reduce our numbers again? – will there be a big naval battle? – shall I be made Commander-in-Chief of the allied forces? – shall we have to do a big push? – because if the answer to any of these were in the affirmative then it would mean, I don’t get away [on leave] on the 24th.

Extract from ‘Pencillings or Pennings at Dusk’
Yes, the Pennines would be preferable to a certain spot in Belgium in May 1916 – even to the man with the least artistic and picturesque brain, even to the man who knows no fear or has no nerves – to anyone in fact.

But there are moments, sometimes hours, when right at the seat of the greatest wars, close behind the firing-line, near where there have been many thousands of lives lost in the fiercest fighting of the war, one can close one’s eyes and imagine all is peace again. At times when all the infernal engines and machines at the command of the armies are subdued for a few minutes, one may realise that all the frightfulness man can invent will never kill nature. Listen, now, to the birds singing over in those trees, which are rustling gently in the mild western breeze, as they have done for hundreds of years; and that little stream which has so often run with blood since the war commenced, still makes its merry music, as it bubbles over the little stones towards the canal waiting to receive it.

A full transcript of the letters and prose can be read here http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/material/832/

Birth date: 8-Apr-1894

Death date: 22-May-1916

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: Gerard Street, Derby (1901 Census)
Hoult Street, Derby (1911 Census)
Porter Street, Derby (Probate record)

Employment: Printer’s clerk (1911 Census)

Family: Father: Ernest Thomas
Mother: Constance Harriet
Siblings: Charles Ernest, Hilda May, Constance Marie

Military service:

1914 – Enlisted, Surrey
Oct-1914 – Commissioned 16th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
Oct-1914 – Transferred to 14th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
18-Jul-1915 – Temporary lieutenant
Oct-1915 – Entered France
Dec-1915 – Commanded C Company
Feb-1916 - Commanded B Company

Medal(s): 15 Star
British War Medal
Victory Medal
Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 13 June 1916)

Gender: Male

Contributed by Durham County Record Office