George Henry Gilchrist was born in the summer of 1883 in Swansea. He was the son of Robert and Sarah Gilchrist.

In the 1891 Census is shown living with his parents and 4 siblings at 100 Vale of Neath Road, St Thomas, Swansea. His father Robert was listed as a Funeral Labourer from Scotland and his mother Sarah was from Pembroke.

By 1901, George was 17 and had started work as a Raiser in a Tinworks. He was still living with his parents, but by this time they were living at 10 Midland Terrace, Llangyfelach.

George married Edith Maud Jones on 22 October 1904 at St Pauls Church, Llangyfelach. On the records, he gave his occupation as a Labourer and address as Midland Terrace, Morriston. George and Edith went on to have 7 children, George Henry (1905), Robert John (1907), Emma (1909), William Arthur (1910), Stephen, Levi and Thomas.

In the 1911 Census, the couple were living with their 4 eldest children at 130 Sway Road, Morriston. George was listed as a Tinworker.

George voluntarily enlisted in the 1st Welsh (Howitzers) in May 1915 and after that date, other than a few brief periods of leave in 1915, he would have seen little of his family until he returned from Egypt in early 1919. Tragically, shortly after in September 1919, his wife Edith died.

George re-married in late 1920, his second wife was Elizabeth Ann Rees and they went on to have another child.

In 1927, George’s second son Robert married in Llangyfelach. George was listed in the parish records and his occupation was given as Tinworker.

George Henry Gilchrist passed away on 14 May 1933, he was survived by Elizabeth, his second wife. His address was given as 19 Midland-terrace, Morriston.

George Henry Gilchrist enlisted as a Driver in the 1st Welsh (Howitzer) Brigade on 29 May 1915, he was assigned the Brigade service number 1364.

Unfortunately, Dvr Gilchrist’s service record was destroyed during the Blitz, however it is possible to piece to together some elements of his service with surviving scraps of information.

Dvr Gilchrist would have trained initially at the Brigade Depot in Swansea. Shortly after he joined he was involved in an incident at a local quarry where he saved the life of a young girl, the local paper reported: It appeared that the 1st Welsh Howitzer Brigade were passing the spot when a child named Tilly Matthews went over the quarry into a deep pond. She would have been drowned but for the action of Gunner Gilchrist.

After George completed his training, it is likely that he transferred to the 53rd Division Ammunition Column or DAC in Bedford and travelled to France on 25 November 1915 – the date the Welsh DAC travelled - sailing from Southampton to Le Havre. From Le Havre, he would have moved to the Somme area where they had a period of front-line training in a quiet sector recently taken over from the French Army. Six months later, this sector would mark the southern edge of the Somme Offensive and be the ground the Welsh Divisions fought over near Mametz.

In the run up to Christmas 1915, the Divisional Artillery withdrew from the front-line and received orders to rejoin the rest of the 53rd Division – who had fought at Gallipoli - in Egypt.

At this time, the majority of the DAC was given orders to remain in France and they became the 29th DAC. Only a small number of members of the DAC, including George, went to Egypt, this has been confirmed by his family. He would most likely have made the dangerous 5 day sailing from Marseilles to Alexandria in February 1916.

From Alexandria, it is therefore reasonable to assume that he initially travelled to Beni Salama where the 53rd Division refitted following their terrible experiences in Gallipoli, and then in May 1916 moved to the Ismalia area, where the 53rd Division took over a section of the Suez Canal defences.

At the end of the 1916, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force Army started its long and difficult march across the Sinai Desert that culminated in the first 2 unsuccessful Battles of Gaza in early 1917. After a change of leadership (General Murray was replaced by General ‘Bull’ Allenby), Gaza was taken later in the year and the route to Jerusalem was opened up. The army continued its advances and took Jerusalem by the Christmas of 1917.

After a period of rest, the army continued its push through Palestine and the Judean Hills until the armistice with the Turkish Armies on 30 October 1918.

Following the armistice, the Welsh artillery returned to Alexandria and began returning home. Most men were discharged in March/April 1919.

For his service in the Great War, Driver George Henry Gilchrist was awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Footnote: George’s brother Levi was killed in action in France on 27 January 1916 whilst serving with the 14th (Swansea) Battalion of the Welsh Regiment.