Private Alexander GILBERT (3878)
1/6th (Morayshire) Battalion Seaforth Highlanders

Date of birth: 18th August 1893
Date of death: 26th November 1916

Died of wounds aged 23
Buried at Bolougne Eastern Cemetery Plot VIII Row D Grave 188
He was born at Knockando on the 18th of August 1893 the eldest son of Alexander (a labourer) and Isabella (nee Harold) Gilbert of Delvie Cottage, Knockando.

He was a postman before he enlisted into the 2/6th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders at Elgin in November 1915. He later transferred to the 1/6th Battalion.

On the morning of the 13th of November 1916 the battalion were part of an attack to capture the village of Beaumont Hamel on the Somme.
The village had resisted capture since the 1st of July when the 29th Division had suffered terrible casualties in their attempt to take it on the first day of the battle.
The 1/6th Seaforths were detailed to be in the fifth and sixth waves of the 51st Highland Division assault that morning.

At 5.45am a mine was detonated under the Hawthorn Ridge and the first waves moved forward. They passed over the jumping off trenches without incident but found themselves getting ahead of the leading wave, having to hold their ground for a short while.
The leading battalions of the 1/7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the 1/5th Seaforths captured the German first line trench and the 1/6th Seaforths passed through them and headed for the second line.

Here fierce resistance was encountered and the men became scattered. Lieutenant James Bliss rallied men from C and D Companies along with some men from the 1/5th Seaforths and pushed on to the outskirts of the village but they were driven back to the second line by enemy machine gun fire. The party then set about clearing the second line enemy dugouts and consolidating their gains.
Further north A Company had been tasked with the capture of two caves and this was achieved with the capture of a large number of prisoners a feat which won one of the leaders 2nd Lieutenant George Edwards the Distinguished Service Order.

During this attack Alexander Gilbert was wounded in the head, was evacuated and died in hospital at Boulogne on the 26th of November.
Delvie

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