Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

The Gallipoli Campaign was fought on the Gallipoli peninsula 25th April 1915 to 9th January 1916. in a failed attempt to defeat Turkey by seizing the Dardanelles and capturing Istanbul. Ill-conceived and planned, the initial effort by the Royal Navy failed to force passage through the Dardanelles by sea power alone. It was then realised that a land force was needed to support the project by suppressing the Turkish mobile artillery batteries. By the time all was ready the Turks were well aware and well prepared. Despite amazing heroics on the day of the landings only minor beachheads were achieved and over the succeeding 8 months little progress was made. Eventually the beachheads were evacuated in a series of successful ruses.

Despite Gallipoli rightly becoming a national source of pride to Australians and New Zealanders, far more British casualties were sustained, and these days the substantial French contribution is almost forgotten.

Detail :

De Ruvigny's Vol 1 TRIMMER, GILBERT FREDERICK, Coy.Sergeant Major. 2/4 The Queen's Royal West Surrey Regt. 2nd son of John Trimmer, of Guildford Born Guildford,Surrey 18 April 1876; was by trade a Tailor; served in South Africa, 1900, with the City Imperial Volunteers and was invalided home ; after the outbreak of the European War he enlisted 2 Nov. 1914 ; went to the Dardanelles with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and was killed in action at Chocolate Hill, Gallipoli. 9 Aug. 1915. He was married.

Northampton Mercury 10 September 1915: "TRIMMER, COMPANY - SERGEANT - MAJOR, 5th Royal West Surrey Regiment. There is some mystery concerning the fate of Sergeant-Major Gilbert Frederick Trimmer, of the 5th Battalion Royal West Surrey Regiment. On Friday the Sergeant-Major's wife, who live at Newport Pagnell, received a letter from the Captain of the Regiment, who stated that during the fighting at the Dardenelles on August 17, he saw her husband "fall while in action," but he did not know what became of him afterwards. No official confirmation has yet been received by Mrs. Trimmer, neither has she received any other communication which would relieve her anxiety concerning her husband. Sergeant-Major Trimmer is well known in Newport Pagnell, where, previous to the war, he was a partner in the tailoring firm of Mssrs. Bailey and Co."

Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser 11 September 1915 "A HERO'S DEATH. Unofficial intelligence has been received that Coy.-Sergt.-Major Gilbert Frederick Trimmer, of C Company, son of Mr J. Trimmer, of Woodbridge-road, Guildford, fell mortally wounded whilst leading his men. A warm tribute has been paid to him by his Company Officer, Captain. W.H. Pryce, in a letter to his wife, in which he states:-"My chief sorrow is that I cannot tell you definitely what has happened to your husband. He fell wounded while gallantly leading his men to the attack in the face of heavy fire, and I cherish hopes that he has been picked up and taken to hospital. I am making every effort to get some definite news about him, but so far without success. If he fell let it comfort you that he fell fighting heroically for God, his country and you, and if the great sorrow of his loss falls heavily on you (I trust, however, that you may have better news than I have, and that he may be spared). God will comfort you. The last words he was heard to utter were 'I am down, boys. Go on. The Queen's' and, inspired by his courage, they went on and won."

Further detail reported in the Surrey Advertiser 06 September 1915 "...Sergt.-Major Trimmer served in the Boer war with the C.I.V.'s after which he joined a friend as partner in a tailor's business at Newport Pagnell. He was in the National Reserve, and when war broke out he joined the Oxford Light Infantry, but later transferred to The Queen's and was made sergeant, receiving his promotion to company-sergt.-major when the composite battalion was formed. He was in his 39th year, and he leaves a young widow, but no family. Mrs Trimmer, formerly Miss Hewitt, who occupied a position on the post-office staff at Guildford for some years. Sergt.-Major Trimmer was a member of a family of soldiers. His father served in the local Volunteers for 20 years, and holds the long service medal. The eldest son is Regimental Sergt.-Major Sidney Trimmer, of the Rough Riders (City of London Yeomanry), and is now at Alexandria. Mr. Trimmer's youngest son, Bomb. Archie Trimmer, is in the artillery section of the South African Mounted Rifles, and he served through the present campaign with General Botha. Mr. Trimmer has also a daughter doing duty as a Red Cross nurse at the Surrey County Hospital Annexe."

Masonic :

Senior Warden
The contribution records at the United Grand Lodge of England show a year of war service before "Missing, presumed killed Aug/15."

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley
• Website : De Ruvigny' s Roll of Honour