Family Group:
Father: Volunteer Long Service Medal – Private Alexander Tibbetts, 4th Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots
Volunteer Long Service Medal – 2900 PTE. A. TIBBETS. 4TH V.B. RL. SCOTS.
Medal on original wearing pin.
Son: First World War Pair – Corporal Albert Alexander Tibbetts, Royal Scots Fusiliers – KIA 26 September 1917
British War Medal – 40201 CPL. A. TIBBETTS. R. S. FUS.
Victory Medal – 40201 CPL. A. TIBBETTS. R. S. FUS.
Corporal Albert Alexander Tibbetts was born on 23 June 1894 in Edinburgh, the son of Alexander Tibbetts and Isabella Tibbetts (née Low) of Bristo Street, Edinburgh.
Prior to the war he was employed with Messrs Wood & Cairns, West Register Street, Edinburgh, and came from a strongly military family. His father, Alexander Tibbetts, had served with the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots, for 27 years and was awarded the Volunteer Long Service Medal (1903). The family’s military tradition extended further, with his grandfather having served in the Dumfries Volunteers, and wider family connections in Dumfries and Parkhead.
Albert Tibbetts enlisted in April 1915, initially serving with the 2/9th Royal Scots, before later being attached to the Machine Gun Section of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, ultimately serving with the 1st Battalion in France and Flanders.
He saw extensive front-line service and, as reported in a contemporary newspaper account, “had come through a deal of fighting” and had been wounded in April 1917. By this stage he had risen to the rank of Corporal, and was regarded highly by his officers.
He was killed in action on 26 September 1917, aged 23, during the fighting at Passchendaele.
A letter from his commanding officer to his mother stated:
“I must express to you my sincere sympathy at the great loss you have sustained by the death of your son. He was a splendid soldier and one of my best N.C.O.’s, and his loss is not only felt by me and his other officers and comrades, but also by his regiment.”
The same report notes that he had two brothers also serving, along with numerous other relatives, reinforcing the strong military tradition of the family.
Having no known grave, he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
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AJMS Medals