Also Served: Benjamin Gilbert - Benjamin GILBERT
2 Court, 3 House, St Helens Road, Prescot Private 241049, 2/5th Bn., South Lancashire Regiment Benjamin Gilbert was nborn Benjamin Morris in 1884 in Staffordshire. The family moved to Prescot in the late 1880's.
Benjamin almost certainly attested for military service in late 1914. He joined the 2nd/5th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment, and would have gone to Blackpool for training in December of that year. Many of the men joining this unit would have been time served soldiers, either Regular or Territorial.
He would have been assigned a 4 digit service number, though it hasn't been possible to identify that number.
Early in 1915, the Battalion moved to Tunbridge Wells, where it was marked for Home Defence. In May of that year, the first men to be used as reinforcements for the 1/5th Battalion went overseas, though the creation of the 3rd/5th Battalion in November 1915, specifically to be used as reinforcements, stopped the use of men from the 2nd/5th.
Early in 1916, the Battalion was used to construct field fortifications for the protection of London at Woldingham, south of the Thames, then in June they went to Blackdown near Aldershot to complete training prior to going overseas
Looking at Benjamin's service number.......
The number range commencing '241' was issued to the 5th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment in late February 1917 when the Territorial Force was renumbered. It would appear that most of the men who were assigned this range of numbers were still in the UK, and as such it is difficult to understand what their range of 4 digit numbers was when they enlisted.
Having his 6 digit number on his Medal Index Card, as shown above, tells us that he only went overseas after the renumbering in 1917.
The renumbering was sequential in the same sequence as the original service numbers, and it is known that:-
241024 Ernest Forber enlisted on 7th November 1914
241044 Thomas Hughes enlisted on 8th November 1914
241054 Thomas Campbell enlisted on 9th November 1914
241058 Joseph Millington enlisted on 9th November 1914
241071 William Swift enlisted on 9th November 1914
So Benjamin, as 241049, must have enlisted at the same time as the above men
Back to the Battalion......
The 2/5th Bn went to France on 20th February 1917.
Sadly, Benjamin's service records have not survived and so although we can assume with some degree of confidence that he went to France in February 1917, we don't know how long he was there for. I can, however, provide details of the Battalion's movements and activities in France if required.
We can see from his Medal Index Card that he also served with the Labour Corps as Private 616183. In early 1918, the 2nd/5th Battalion of the South Lancs was disbanded due to reorganisation. Many, but not all, of the men serving with them were transferred to the 1st/5th Battalion as outlined above.
It seems than Benjamin was not one of those, and was instead posted to the Labour Corps. The Labour Corps had been formed in early 1917 and the majority of the men who were posted to the Corps were unfit for front line service. Benjamin's Labour Corps number is from a range issued between May and August of 1918, and these men were predominantly assigned to Prisoner of War Companies, almost certainly in France.
Benjamin was probably discharged in February or March of 1919 and will have then returned home. He was entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal
After the war, Benjamin married Janet Rylance in Prescot in 1923 and I believe they went on to have 7 or 8 children. In the 1911 census, Janet was living at 7, Houghton Street, Prescot, where she was one of 9 children of Joseph and Alice Rylance.
The 1939 Register records Benjamin and Janet at 2, New Cross Street, with Benjamin employed as "Rag Gatherer".
Benjamin died in March 1957
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