b. 17/11/1881 Bethnal Green, Middlesex. d. 1946 Essex.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 26/10/1915 Bassin Loubet, Boulogne, France.
Adam Edward Gimble, Edward, as he was known, was born in Bethnal Green in November 1881, the one of six children of Adam Gimble and Mary Ann Schraum. On leaving school, Edward became a general labourer. In 1907, he married Annie Butcher, and they had a son, Edward Arthur, born the following year. Edward served with the Middlesex Regiment during the Great War, and became a Miscellaneous Dealer in later life. He died in Essex in 1946, aged 64.
AM CITATION:
On the morning of the 26th October 1915, the Orderly Officer on duty at the Bassin Loubet. Boulogne, was informed that a fire had broken out in the after hold of the S.S. ” Maine ” Ammunition Ship, in which a quantity of high explosives was stowed, and he at once reported the fact to Lieutenant – Commander Warden at the Office of the Naval Transport Officer. In the meantime the ship was abandoned by her officers and crew, and steps were taken by the local fire brigade to rig the shore fire hoses. Lieutenant-Commander Warden immediately proceeded on board, and on arrival at the after hold found smoke issuing from between the high explosive cases in the centre of the hatch. He went down into the hold, lifted up one of the cases, and called for the fire hose, which was passed to him by Private Edward Gimble. 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, who had followed him on board. This case, and the one next to it, were alight on their adjacent sides. Lieutenant-Commander Warden played the hose on them and extinguished the fire. Subsequent investigation showed that the fire was in all probability due to the ignition by friction or spontaneous combustion of amorphous phosphorus, which had leaked from boxes containing that substance stowed above the cases containing the high explosives. There is little doubt that the prompt and gallant action of Lieutenant – Commander Warden prevented an explosion which would have had serious and possibly disastrous results with almost certain loss of life. The Albert Medal of the Second Class has been awarded to Private Gimble.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
