Name
Robert Gamble
19 August 1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/04/1916
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Company Quartermaster Serjeant
8833
Royal Irish Rifles
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BUNGAY CEMETERY
S. 39.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hemel Hempstead memorials, 1916 Easter Rising Memorial Wall, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin
Pre War
Robert Gamble was born at 17 Stafford Street, Dublin, Ireland on 19 August 1890 the son of Robert and Maria Gamble. Brother to George, William, Edward, Maude and Elizabeth.
On the 1901 Census he was a pupil at Coombe, Merchant's Quay, Dublin, aged 10. His older brother William was also a pupil there, and his parents and the rest of the family were living at George's Place, Rotunda, Dublin.
He enlisted with the 102nd Foot (Royal Dublin Fusiliers) on 27 August 1907 under Service No. 7015 and gave his occupation as Draper's Porter.
On the 1911 Census he was a serving soldier with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. stationed at Citadel Barracks, Dover Castle, Kent.
He married Florence Hilda Baldry at the Registry Office in Castle Street, Dover on 29 April 1911. She later lived at 59 Park Road, Polsloe Park, Exeter and then stayed with her mother at Priory Villa, Bungay, Suffolk. On 3 March 1917 Florence married Lt William Frederick Bass, 1st Cavalry Reserve Brigade, RFA, and gave her address as 6 Morland Road, Boxmoor, [nr Hemel Hempstead] Herts.
Wartime Service
He was already a serving soldier with the Royal Irish Rifles at the outbreak of war and served in France from 15 August 1914 to 8 May 1915. He was injured with a gunshot wound to the foot in 1914, and later received shrapnel wounds to the right arm, right hand, groin, scrotum and left leg. He was then hospitalised from 8 May to July 1915.
In the spring of 1916 he was promoted to Company Quarter Master Sergeant. Royal Irish Regiment, 2nd Garrison Battalion, and given the regimental number 7.
He was killed in action on 26 April 1916 whilst assisting a party of Sherwood Foresters to dislodge Sinn Fein snipers in the vicinity of Beggars Bush Barracks. during the Easter Uprising in Dublin.
He is buried at Bungay Cemetery, Suffolk.
Additional Information
His widow Florence received a war gratuity of £14 10s and pay owing of £10 13s 2d. She initially received a pension of 11 shillings a week, but when she remarried in March 1917 to Lt W F Bass 1st Cavalry Reserve Brigade RFA, the pension ceased and she received a remarriage gratuity of £56 17s 9d. His older brother William Gamble also served with the Royal Irish Rifles. (N.B,. This soldier seems to have little connection to Hemel Hempstead other than his widow's address being listed as Hemel Hempstead on CWGC.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk
