James Gilbert was a career soldier who was a convalescent patient at Hickwells in the spring of 1915. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:
50082 Driver J Gilbert
Royal Field Artillery
In action Mons Aisne
La Basse, Ypres
He shares this page with entries from 5363 Private W Ferguson of the 3rd Border Regiment, W Wallace of the 1st Border Regiment and 19740 Private Joseph Leigh of the 3rd Border Regiment.
James Gilbert was born in 1890 and enlisted in the British Army on 6th February 1908 . He was an Old Contemptible who served with the XV Brigade Royal Field Artillery which formed part of the 5th Division.
His entry indicates that he served abroad from the outbreak of war in August (Mons Ypres ). He was awarded a silver war badge but was not discharged from the army until 19th April 1919 (discharged from the 4th Reserve Brigade). This suggests that he may have rejoined his unit after his spell at Hickwells and been wounded again later in the war. Without access to his service record however, this has to remain supposition.
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