BORN HULL 29/05/1893. SON OF THOMAS GAMBLE (1854-1929) & ANNIE ELIZABETH POUGHER (1855-1932), OF 135 GLASGOW STREET, HULL. BOTH SONS WERE KILLED IN THE WAR. A BUTCHER’S APPRENTICE, EMPLOYED BY MR WASS, BUTCHER, HESSLE ROAD. HE WAS 5 FOOT 6 INCHES TALL, 38 INCH CHEST & WEIGHED 141 LBS.
HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS, ON 17/11/1914. SERVED WITH THE 13TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGEIMENT (4TH HULL PALS), IN EGYPT FROM 15/12/1915. HE ARRIVED IN FRANCE, ON 03/03/1916. SAW ACTION AT THE SOMME IN 1916 AND OPPY WOOD ON 03/05/1917. HE WAS KILLED IN ACTION ON 29/04/1917, AGED 23. HIS ARMY EFFECTS INCLUDED LETTERS, PHOTOS, ROSARY BEADS & CARDS.
HIS ONLY BROTHER PTE, THOMAS WILLIAM GAMBLE, DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY, WAS ALSO KILLED ON 14/10/1917, AGED 37. THEIR ARMY EFFECTS WERE RETURNED TO THEIR MOTHER WHO HAD LOST HER ONLY TWO SONS.
HE IS COMMEMORATED WITH HIS BROTHER, ON THE WW1 MEMORIAL, ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH, NEWINGTON, HULL.
The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull. All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences. During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon. The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
