First World War Memorial, St Margaret’s Church, Oxford

Herbert John GEE (1877–1918)

Photograph of Herbert John Gee, taken in Egypt. Reproduced
by kind permission of John Meyers, Founder and Curator of
the Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum, Australia

Herbert John Gee was born in Oxford on 2 June 1877, the son of William Henry Gee (born in Egrove in Kennington, Berkshire in 1844) and Elizabeth Sophia Plummer Allnutt (born in St Giles-in-the-Fields, London in 1844).

At the time of their marriage at Ss Philip & James's Church, Oxford on 16 July 1870 Herbert's father was a bookseller in at 28 High Street, Oxford (one of the shops demolished to make way for Brasenose's new buildings), and his mother lived at Percy Villa, The Parks. They had seven children:

• William Henry Gee (born at 28 High Street, Oxford on 17 April 1871 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 14 May)
• A stillborn daughter born at 28 High Street on 24 June 1872: announced in the newspaper
• Charles Frank Allnutt Gee (born at 28 High Street, Oxford on 25 April 1873 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 25 May)
• Lizzie Gee (born at 28 High Street, Oxford on 27 May 1874, privately baptised on 6 June)
• Alice Mary Allnutt Gee (born at 28 High Street, Oxford on 17 January 1876 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 13 February)
• Herbert John Gee (born at 28 High Street, Oxford on 2 June 1877 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 27 June)
• Ernest Richard Gee (born at 28 High Street, Oxford on 15 April 1878 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 13 May)
• Frederick Scaife Gee (born at 28 High Street, Oxford on 19 May 1879 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 12 June).

At the time of the 1871 census, just before the birth of their eldest child, Herbert's parents plus their house servant were living at Beef Lane in St Aldate’s. His father, a bookseller, employed a porter and one apprentice, and directories show that he then sold secondhand books at 28 High Street, Oxford. By May of that year when their first son was baptised, that was also given as their address, and they lived over the shop until the end of 1879, when they moved to 4 The Terrace (now 53 Park Town). At the time of the 1881 census they were living at Hampton Poyle.

Herbert’s father William Henry Gee continued to run his shop at 28 High Street, which now sold new as well as secondhand books; but its days were numbered, as it was in the row that had to be demolished in the mid-1880s to make way for the extension of Brasenose College into the High. By 1889 Herbert’s father had moved his shop across the road to 127 High Street, and the following year the family moved to their first address in Southmoor Road, No. 35. Herbert entered the City of Oxford High School for Boys in George Street in January 1891 and passed the Oxford & Cambridge Local Examinations in 1892. His older brother Frederick and younger brother William also attended that school.

At the time of the 1891 census Herbert (13) was at home with his mother and five of his siblings at 35 Southmoor Road. His father was staying at a hotel in Somerset with his son William junior (19).

Herbert left the Boys' High School after only eighteen months in 1892, and was apprenticed to W. F. Lucas & Co. in 1893.

His father William Henry Gee’s bookshop at 127 High Street closed down in about 1894.

In 1898 Herbert joined the 15th The King's Hussars, and was probably abroad on census night in 1901. His family was still at 35 Southmoor Road, and his father now described himself as a political agent (for the Conservative party).

Herbert retired from the army as a sergeant in 1910, and became a commercial traveller.

By the time of the 1911 census Herbert's parents had moved to 3 Southmoor Road in St Margaret’s parish, a large house with eleven rooms, and had one servant. Herbert's father was at home on census night with three of his seven children, namely Lizzie (36), Alice (35), and Frederick (31), who was a butler; and an architect (24-year-old John Allnutt Howell, who was probably a relation) was boarding with them. Herbert's mother was paying a visit to her son Ernest Richard Gee, an assistant bookseller, and his wife Bertha at their home in New Malden, Surrey. Herbert himself, who was now 33, was a commercial traveller selling typewriter accessories and was living at 50 Fairmount Road, Brixton Hill, London with his married brother Charles, who worked in a bookshop.

About a month after the census, on 4 May 1911, Herbert John Gee emigrated to Australia: passenger lists show an H. Gee (an adult single male, occupation “Traveller”) sailing that day with the White Star Line on the Medic from Liverpool to Sydney. He took up farming in Queensland at East Barron, Atherton.

Herbert John Gee at Pinkenba, Brisbane prior to boarding
HMAT A30  Borda (reproduced by kind permission of John Meyers)

In the First World War Herbert John Gee (37) enlisted on 29 December 1914 in the 11th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force (AIF), “B” Squadron.

He was promoted to Second Lieutenant on 1 April 1915, and embarked from Brisbane for the Middle East with his squadron on board HMAT A30 Borda on 16 June 1915.

He was in Egypt from July 1915 and then Gallipoli from August 1915, where he was wounded on 3 September. His photograph appeared in the Oxford Journal Illustrated on 22 September 1915. He was wounded again on 3 November 1915.

From December 1915 he was involved in operations in Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine.

He was mentioned twice in despatches, and won the Military Cross on 28 December 1917 and Bar in April 1917.

Herbert's mother Mrs Elizabeth Sophia Plummer Gee died in Oxford near the beginning of 1917 and was buried at Wolvercote Cemetery on 12 February.

By 1918 Herbert John Gee was a Captain and fighting in Palestine. He and his men entered the railway station buildings in Semakh (a small town on the southern shore of Lake Tiberias) armed with bayonets, and destroyed or captured the whole German force (which as well as being armed with machine-guns and grenades was much larger than the Australian one).

He was killed in this action at the age of 40 on 25 September 1918 and is buried in the Haifa War Cemetery (B.62).

Gee is remembered is remembered on a plaque in the Old Boys’ High School, George Street (left); on the war memorial outside St Margaret’s Church in north Oxford; and on the memorial in Brisbane, Australia.