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

Herbert John GEE (1877–1918)

Herbert John Gee was born in Oxford in 1877 (registered fourth quarter in Oxford district), the son of William Henry Gee (born in Egrove in Kennington, Berkshire in c.1845) and Elizabeth Sophia Plummer Cox (born in St Giles-in-the-Fields, London in c.1844). His parents were married in the Headington registration district in the third quarter of 1870 and had seven children:

• William Henry Gee (born in Oxford on 17 April 1871 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 14 May 1871)
• Charles Frank Allnutt Gee (born in Oxford on 25 April 1873 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 25 May 1873)
• Lizzie Gee (born in Oxford on 27 May 1874, privately baptised on 6 June 1874)
• Alice Mary Allnutt Gee (born in Oxford on 17 January 1876, and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 13 February 1876)
• Herbert John Gee (born in Oxford in 1877 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 27 June 1877)
• Ernest Richard Gee (born in Oxford in 1878 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 13 May 1878)
• Frederick Scaife Gee (born in Oxford in 1879 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 12 June 1879)

At the time of the 1871 census Herbert’s father, William Henry Gee, was a bookseller. He employed a porter and one apprentice and was living with his new wife and their house servant at Beef Lane, St Aldate’s. Directories show that he then sold secondhand books at 28 High Street, Oxford, and by May of that year when their first son was baptised, that was also given as their address. They lived over the shop until the end of 1879, when they moved to 4 The Terrace, Park Town.

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 from Park Town to their first address in Southmoor Road, No. 35. They can be seen there at the time of the 1891 census: Herbert, who attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys in George Street, was then a schoolboy of 13, and his father was away from home.

William Henry Gee’s bookshop at 127 High Street closed down in about 1894, and at the time of the 1901 census, when they were still at 35 Southmoor Road, he described himself as a political agent. Herbert himself was not at home on census night.

It appears that Herbert’s mother Elizabeth Gee died between 1901 and 1911, because by the time of the 1911 census his father was described as a widower. He had moved to 3 Southmoor Road in St Margaret’s parish, a large house with eleven rooms, and had one servant. Of his seven children, only Lizzie, Alice, and Frederick were still at home, and the family had an architect boarding with them (24-year-old John Allnutt Howell, who was probably a relation). Meanwhile Herbert (33) was now 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 at East Barron Atherton, Queensland.

In the First World War Herbert John Gee (37) enlisted on 1 April 1915 in the 11th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force (AIF), “B” Squadron. He was appointed a Second Lieutenant, and embarked with his squadron from Brisbane on board HMAT A30 Borda on 16 June 1915. He was sent to Gallipoli, where he was wounded on 3 September and 3 November 1915. He was mentioned twice in despatches, and won the Military Cross on 28 December 1917 and Bar in April 1917.

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 died 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.