Ancestor Details

>Name of Ancestor: William John McGibbony

Ancestor's date of birth: 24/03/1885

Ancestor's date of death: 19/12/1920

Cause of Death: Pneumonia

Service Number: 521

Colony or State of enlistment: Not applicable, Place of Enlistment: Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Unit: 1^st Kitchener's Fighting Scouts

Rank attained in Boer War: TPR, Date Effective: 24/12/1900

Highest Rank attained (if served after war): No record of post war service

Murray Page: Not applicable - did not fight in an Australian unit

Contingent: Not applicable

Ship: Travelled privately to South Africa

Memorial details: Ballarat Cemetery

Decorations: Queen's South Africa Medal with slasps: TRANSVAAL, ORANGE FREE STATE, CAPE COLONY

Personal Characteristics: Detail not provided

Reasons to go and fight: At just 15 years of age, visiting and living with his older brother Matthew, and his South African wife Mary Anne Cowans, he enlisted at Pietermaritzburg.

Details of service in war: Unit formed 6 February 1900 chiefly from men who found their way to South Africa from various parts of the world. Served throughout the war in Cape Colony, Transvaal and Free State.

Service and life after the Boer War: No known service records. His trade/occupation after the Boer War was the family tradition of Watchmaker and Jeweler, with his brother Matthew, on their return to Melbourne in 1909. In 1913 he set up his own business in Melbourne and then in Geelong. He died in 1920 of pneumonia, at just 35 years of age, leaving a wife and 5 children.

Descendant Details

Name of Descendant: Darryl Charles McGibbony, Coronet Bay VIC
Relationship to Ancestor: Grandson

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