THE 1914-15 STAR TRIO TO PRIVATE T.L. GILLIBRAND, 5TH BATTALION ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT AND GARRISON BATTALION ROYAL MUNSTER FUSILIERS, WHO LIED ABOUT HIS AGE IN ORDER TO ENLIST IN 1914, CLAIMING THAT HE WAS 34 YEARS OLD WHEN IN REALITY HE WAS 47 YEARS OLD

THE 1914-15 STAR TRIO TO PRIVATE T.L. GILLIBRAND, 5TH BATTALION ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT AND GARRISON BATTALION ROYAL MUNSTER FUSILIERS, WHO LIED ABOUT HIS AGE IN ORDER TO ENLIST IN 1914, CLAIMING THAT HE WAS 34 YEARS OLD WHEN IN REALITY HE WAS 47 YEARS OLD, AND WAS DISCHARGED IN 1918, MEDICALLY UNFIT FOR FURTHER SERVICE, AGED 51 YEARS, GILLIBRAND HAVING TO LIE ABOUT HIS AGE IN ORDER TO ENLIST BECAUSE WHEN HE ENLISTED, IN SEPTEMBER 1914, THE MAXIMUM AGE FOR ENLISTING WAS 38, GILLIBRAND BEING 9 YEARS OVER THE AGE LIMIT.

Three: 1914-15 Star (officially named, impressed in plain block capitals: 709 T.L. GILLIBRAND. R. IR. R.),709 Private, Royal Irish Regiment): British War and Victory Medals (both officially named, impressed in plain block capitals 709 PTE. T.L. GILLIBRAND. R. IR. REGT.). BWM with attractive old dark tone, generally Almost Extremely Fine.

Thomas Lightbrown Gillibrand was also entitled to a Silver War Badge.

Group accompanied by biographical details, extract 1871 and 1911 census returns, WW1 medal rolls (2), Medal Index card and Silver War Badge roll (awarded Silver War Badge number B77875) and death registration details.

Thomas Lightbrown Gillibrand (1867-1939) was born in 1867 in Darwen, Lancashire. He is recorded in the 1871 census as a 4 year old boy resident in Darwen with his 29 year old father, John Eaves Gillibrand and 29 year old mother, Jane Gillibrand, and two younger sisters (there is an error in the biographical sketch for Gillibrand on Ancestry that states that his father was 15 years old when he was born). Thomas Gillibrand is recorded in the 1911 census as a 44 year old Cotton Twister resident in Darwen with his 38 year old wife Betsy and 12 year old son.

Gillibrand enlisted into the 5th Battalion Royal Irish Regiment on 10/9/1914. At the time of enlistment Gillibrand was 47 years old, making him very old for a recruit at that time, given that life expectancy in 1914 for an adult male in England was only 52 years. When enlisting, Gillibrand clearly lied about his age in order to be accepted as a recruit, his Silver War Badge entry recording him as being 38 years of age when he was discharged on 23/10/1918. Gillibrand would thus have claimed to have been 34 years old when he enlisted in 1914, rather than 47 years old.

Medal Index card confirms service initially initially as 709 Private with the 5th Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, and subsequently as G685 Private with the Royal Munster Fusiliers (G prefix to Gillibrand’s Royal Munster Fusiliers service number indicates service with a Garrison Battalion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers), and that Gillibrand first saw active service in the Balkans, entering that theatre of operations on 22/7/1915 (the 5th Battalion Royal Irish Regiment landed as a unit at Mudros on 22/7/1915, later re-embarking from Mudros and landing at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, with the 10th Irish Division, on 7/8/1915. Gillibrand was discharged on 23/10/1918 as a result of being medically unfit for further service. At the time of discharge he would have been 51 years old.

Thomas Gillibrand died in Darwen in 1939

The Royal Munster Fusiliers raised two garrison battalions during WW1. The 1st Garrison Battalion saw service in Italy during WW1, and the 2nd Garrison Battalion saw service in England.