George James GILBERT

1891 – 1970

Geoge James Gilbert was born in Streatham, Surrey to Alfred and Laura Gilbert on 26/12/1891.  He was the oldest of 9 children.

When he left school he became an assistant in a shoe shop. Although he worked up the ladder, he remained in the boot trade for all of his working life.  The only exception was during the First World War.

In 1913 George married [Elizabeth] May Russell.  They had five sons, the first born in 1913 and the last in 1921.  It was due to his marital status that he wasn’t called up until June 1916.  As a young, very fit man he would have been seen as an ‘ideal’ member of the military.  He joined the Royal Navy at HMS President II, at Crystal Palace for his initial training.  He moved to Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) Kingsnorth where he served as an Aircraft Mechanic (ACM) III.  It is possible that he also received training at RNAS Wormwood Scrubs, as many who had completed their free ballooning courses and ground instruction moved on to Kingsnorth.  Kingsnorth was an air station for airships in Kent.  It was an experimental station, that moved on to large scale production of airships.

On 1st July 1917, George moved to HMS Daedalus (RNAS Lee-on-Solent.)  The air station didn’t open officially until the end of that month as a seaplane base.  He remained there until 31st March 1918, when the RNAS merged with the Royal Flying Corps to form the RAF.  He was discharged 30th April 1920.

A youthful hobby, that continued throughout his military service, was running.  George was frequently reported as taking part in mile races.  He was a member of the Herne Hill Harriers.  In the summer of 1920, it was reported that George had taken part in the annual sports at Warrington Football Club.  This does tie in with George and his family having moved to Preston soon after his discharge.

The other sport he took part in while serving was boxing. He did represent the RAF in 1918.  The article confirming his participation reported on an open-air show.  It said: “Six rd contests: Cpl G J Gilbert (Kingworth RAF) bt A/M Downing on points …… Gilbert is the well-known runner (1 mile Surrey champion and RAF 1 mile champion) and looks like fulfilling his early promise whilst a pupil of Dan Murphy in the old Lynn B.C. days.” [Boxing. July 17, 1918]

By the mid-1920s, the family had moved to Exeter.  George took up a position as a boot store manager.  Again, reports of him taking part in various races were reported.  In one, it said that George was an ex-International.  However, there is no further evidence to back this up.  Following a race in Paignton in 1926, readers were reminded that George had won his first County Championship – the Surrey mile – in 1913.  By this time George was a very active member of Exeter Harriers.  In the same year he was race secretary for an event held at Country Ground, St Thomas.

Throughout the 1920s and early 30s, George continued to be involved in boxing as well as athletics.  He helped organise events and was frequently a timekeeper or referee.  His oldest son was also involved as a timekeeper at an event for the Exeter Juvenile Organisations Council (JOC.)  George was a trainer for the JOC boxing club.  

He was also involved in another local sport club.  He was Chairman of the Billiards League in 1938.

At least three of his sons also followed George into athletics.  In 1938 sons George, Fred and Leonard all were part of the Exeter Harriers team for the annual Exeter to Plymouth relay race.  They were 3 members of a 10 man team.  George was the first over the line in Plymouth, with the combined team time of 4 hours, 30 minutes and 20 seconds.

When Exeter City FC and Exeter Athletics club held their annual sports, George and Michael McGahey had the roles of judges.  In 1936 George was an MC at the first Exeter Supporters dinner.  He had clearly linked up with the club before WW2.

By 1939, George and his family were living at 4 Fulford Road.  He was a branch manager of a boot shop.  In the 1939 register, he was also listed as being an ARP warden.  His duties would have been to check that the blackout regulations were adhered to; issue and check that people had their gas masks with them at all times; sound air raid sirens etc.  When the bombing started on 4th May 1942, if George had been at home, he could have operated the siren near Polsloe Bridge in Hamlin Lane.  There was also a public shelter in that area.  There were also several homes along Pinhoe Road that had agreed to take in those caught outside during a raid.  After the raid he would have had to help rescuing people from their bombed homes.  Those who had managed to get into their shelters, only to find their house had gone, needed men like George to help find accommodation. Sadly, there were plenty of people in need of rescue and those in need of accommodation in his neighbourhood. In total, Exeter suffered 19 raids.  For every raid when George was on duty, the aircraft leaving was not the end of the episode for him.  He would have had to phone in reports, when the phone lines were still working.  (The telephone exchange was hit during the Blitz and phone communication became impossible.)  Search and rescue continued for hours and sometimes days after the bombs had dropped.

Added to the continuing worry about bombs, George also had the concerns of a father with sons away fighting.  At least one of his sons had been cornered at Dunkirk.  Leonard managed to return to Exeter from Dunkirk to marry his sweetheart in Whipton.  Oldest son, George, was also serving.  Although George Jnr was registered as an auxiliary fireman in ‘39, he joined the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC.)  He served in Africa and Italy, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant.

At the time of his son Leonard’s wedding in 1940, George was manager of Lennard’s, a boot and shoe makers at 212 High Street. Following the Blitz, it is a fair assumption that the premises were lost.  He continued to live in Fulford Road for the duration of the conflict.

After the war George took on the role of secretary for Exeter City Football Club.  His experience as secretary for the Exeter Harriers and the Exeter District Billiards clubs would have helped in this role.  His name and contact details appeared on numerous occasions in the local press, publicising season tickets and special match tickets.

In May 1951, the football club travelled to the Netherlands for a tour.  Len Gilbert, George’s son, was on hand to help smooth the way for the directors when meeting the officials from Ajax.  Leonard was living in Holland at that time.

Following the FA cup match against Stoke City in January 1956, George was mentioned in an observation piece about women attending matches.  While the writer was discussing with his friend how many women were there, they guessed about 1 in 10 supporters were female.  George told him that usually about a third of the crowd were women.  The report also mentioned that George’s 16-year-old grand daughter helped him whenever she could.  His family seem to be very supportive of his role with the club.

In August 1960, George’s name was still showing as Secretary in an advert aimed at voucher holders for the Manchester United match, due to be played 19th October.  A couple of months before, in June, he was quoted as saying that a Bank Holiday cricket match would be better not played against the Exeter Cricket Club.  This was due to the ‘spring clean’ of playing staff that had occurred.  (No doubt one of those who were exchanging vouchers for Man United tickets would have been disappointed.  J Rigby had played both professional football and cricket, and taken part in similar matches in Exeter.)

1960 also appears to be the year that George stepped down as club Secretary.  He was 69 at the end of the year and probably felt it was time to relax and spend time with his family.  His son, Frederick was the priest in charge of St Andrew’s & St Michael’s in Paignton.  Another, Norman, was living in Teignmouth.  Retirement gave him time to visit his children and grandchildren.

George passed away 18th August 1970, aged 78.  He had acted as timekeeper at an athletic meeting at Clifton Hill track just before he died.  He had kept up his interest in athletics until the end. As his passing was reported in a Torbay newspaper, it is safe to assume that his son Frederick submitted the details of his life.  His achievements were given as a long and distinguished running career.  He was the mile champion in five countries.  He was a distinguished amateur boxer, having won the middle and heavyweight championships in 1917 while with the RNAS.  He had also won a couple of open championships at the National Sporting Club, presumably in boxing.  Sadly, some of these claims are not confirmed.  George was a mile runner, still finishing top 3 in his late 30s.  He passed on his athletic ability to his sons, who were members of Exeter Harriers.  He also boxed for the RNAS and the RAF while serving during WW1 and just after.  He was a lover of sports in general.  He took part and helped others take part as a referee and timekeeper, as well as secretary for various clubs.