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Percy Carling Girbow died of wounds at the No.2 G. Australian Hospital in France on 7 May 1917 and was buried at the Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.
As Private Girbow of the 27th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers (103rd Brigade, 34th Division), he was involved in the Battle of Arras, specifically the 3rd Battle of the Scarpe to the east of the town. The Beverley Guardian of 12 May 1917 noted that Percy had suffered “severe gunshot wounds in the shoulder”, injuries from which he was to die. He was posthumously awarded the War and Victory Medals.
Percy enlisted in Beverley. The Tyneside Irish recorded massive casualties on 1 July 1916 at La Boiselle on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme.
Percy was born 1893, one of seven children, his parents were Samuel and Mary Elizabeth Girbow. His mother was originally from Woodmansey; his father Samuel was from Beverley and served in the Royal Navy for six years later becoming a tanner’s labourer. The family home was at 13 Minster Terrace, off Minstermoorgate. Percy was employed as the manager of Tiplady’s hairdressers in Flemingate. Percy was unmarried. His younger brother, Arthur, born in 1898, also served in the army as a private in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.
Percy is remembered on the Hengate War Memorial but only as “T.Girbow”. He is also included in Ireland’s Memorial Records for 1914-18.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |