Brigadier-General Alexander Gibb

Brigadier-General
SIR ALEXANDER GIBB, G.B.E., C.B.
Royal Engineers and Royal Marines

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, BSAE, P.E., MinstRE
(March 2026)

Figure 1. Colonel (or Captain?) Alexander Gibb, R.E.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

Alexander Gibb’s service in the Army during the Great War of 1914-1919 was very interesting and somewhat complicated. The photograph above does not provide a clear picture of his rank. He is either a Captain, with three pips, or a Colonel, with two pips and a crown. His cap and collar badges are clearly those of the Royal Engineers.

What makes his rank more difficult to decipher is the fact that his date of commissioning could not be found in the London Gazette or in Army Lists or in Who’s Who. It does not appear that he received his commission in the normal way, but rather was commissioned at a higher rank than 2^nd Lieutenant due to his engineering expertise and the requirements of the Army in France. What makes his story truly remarkable is that he was awarded the C.B., K.B.E. and G.B.E. within a period of 2 years, 2 months and 20 days.

2. EARLY LIFE

Alexander Gibb was born in Broughty Ferry, Angus, Scotland on 12 February 1872, the son of Alexander Easton Gibb (1841-1916) and Hope Brown Gibb, née Paton (1844-1909).[1] He was educated at the High School of Dundee, in the Abbey School in Beckenham, Rugby School and University College London, although he left the latter after a year to become an apprentice with the prominent civil engineers John Wolfe Barry and Henry Marc Brunel. No indication could be found during this research to indicate that he had participated in an Officers Training Program while in school.[2]

By 1900 Gibb completed his training, he became resident engineer on the Metropolitan District Railway's Whitechapel and Bow Railway extension. He joined his father's company, Easton, Gibb & Son, when they were building the King Edward VII Bridge at Kew.[3]

In 1914 Gibb worked on the construction of the Rosyth Naval Dockyard where he is credited with accelerating the program so that it was brought into use during the war. He was a key figure in naval affairs at that time and when the dockyard was completed in 1916 he was appointed an officer in the Royal Engineers.[4]

The circumstances behind his entry into military service are not clear, given the available information about his life. On 16 December 1916 there is a notice in the London Gazette announcing the appointment of Alexander Gibb as a Temporary Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Engineers.[5] This is the first and only reference found in the London Gazette regarding Gibb’s appointment to any rank. If he had entered the Army as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers and had risen through the ranks to become a lieutenant colonel, no mention could be found of these promotions.[6] It may be assumed that because of his engineering expertise with ports and harbours, that he was needed in France with this seniority and that he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel or at a lower rank and then given accelerated promotions.

On 3 February 1917 Gibbs was appointed Chief Engineer for Port Construction in France.[7] On 3 March he was appointed to the rank of Temporary Colonel and graded as Assistant Director of Supplies and Transport.[8]

From 1917 to 1918 Gibb served as the Deputy Director of Docks for the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.). In this position he prepared plans for the repairs of Belgian harbours and was responsible for water supply to the forces in Belgium. He also prepared special landing facilities for cross-channel ferries at Dieppe, Calais and Dunkirk.[9] On 11 December 1917 he received a Mention in Despatches for his good work.[10]

On 1 January 1918, in New Years Honours, Gibb was made a Member of the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (C.B.) for valuable services rendered in connection with military operations in the field[11] and on 7 January 1918 he was again recognized for his service when he became a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (K.B.E.). For this latter Order he is listed as a Colonel, R.E.[12]

What occurs on 23 March 1918 is rather unusual. Temporary Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gibb, K.B.E., C.B., R.E. was appointed to be a Temporary Colonel on the Unattached List of the Royal Marines and to be a Temporary Brigadier-General while holding a special appointment (Civil Engineer-in-Chief, Admiralty).[13] In this position he was responsible for all naval civil engineering works including the Admiralty M-N Scheme – an anti-submarine boom across the English Channel. In this position he became the Engineer-in-Chief to the Admiralty. Gibbs then held two ranks in two different Corps, the Royal Engineers and the Royal Marines.[14]

'The Admiralty M-N Scheme' (sometimes given as "Project M-N") was a British plan to close the Strait of Dover in the English Channel to German U-boats, by means of a chain of either eight or twelve massive towers linked by anti-submarine booms and nets. Gibb devised this scheme of towers to be placed at intervals on the sea bed across the Dover Strait from Folkestone to Cap Gris Nez. Stretched between the towers would be improved anti-submarine nets; each tower would be equipped with two 4-inch guns, searchlights and hydrophone detection equipment. Gibb had worked with T.G. Menzies and Colonel William McLellan on a submarine detection system based on a galvanometer, which was also to be incorporated. There would be accommodation for 100 men on each of the towers. Only two towers had been constructed before the Armistice with Germany caused the cancellation of the project.[15]

On 17 March 1919, for his work in Belgium with harbour repairs and water supply, Gibb was awarded the Order of the Crown of Belgium in the grade of Commander. The London Gazette of this date lists him as a Brigadier-General, K.B.E., C.B, R.M.

On 12 April 1919 Gibb is shown as a Temporary Colonel in the Royal Marine Engineers (Temporary Brigadier-General) to be a Temporary Colonel, Royal Marines “with the temporary rank of Brigadier-General, whilst holding a special appointment.”[16] The only thing that I can make of this latest entry is that the Royal Marine Engineers list was different from the standard Royal Marines list. Gibb was being moved from one list to the other.

Temporary Brigadier-General Gibb was awarded the United States Distinguished Service Medal on 16 September 1919.[17] On 19 December 1919 his temporary commission in the Royal Marines was terminated and he left the service.

Figure 2. Sir Alexander Gibb, in Later Life
(Image courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery)

Back in civilian life he became a prominent Civil Engineer. On 30 March 1920 he received the Knights Grand Cross of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (G.B.E.). He received the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his war service on 22 March 1922. These medals were sent to his home at Woodrow High House in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Additionally, he received two foreign awards, one from Belgium and the other from the United States. He died on 21 January 1958 at Hartley Wintney in Hampshire.

The G.B.E., of the type shown in Figure below, was awarded to Gibb for his Civil Engineering work prior to and after the Great War; hence, it is an award in the Civil Division. The C.B. of the type shown in Figure below, was awarded to him was for his work during the war; hence, it is a Military Division award. The two campaign medals shown in Figure below were awarded to him for his service in France and Flanders.

Figure 4. The C.B. Military Division.
(Image from the author’s collection)

Figure 5. The British War Medal and Victory Medal.
(Image from the author’s collection)

The foreign awards that he received included the Order of the Crown of Belgium and the United States Distinguished Service Medal.

NOTE: None of the medals shown above were those issued to Alexander Gibb. The images are provided here for illustrative purposes only.

After further study of Figure 1 it clearly shows that he was a Captain in the Royal Engineers. If he was a Colonel he would not have been wearing a Royal Engineers cap badge. Once promoted to Colonel, all British officers give up their regimental cap badge for the cap badge of a General Staff Officer as shown below:

igure 9. Cap and Cap Badge of a General Staff Officer.
(Image courtesy of Brigadier [Retired] R. Macdonald)

It would not be unusual for a prominent civilian professional engineer with a war time commission into the Royal Engineers to be commissioned as a Captain. Gibb’s final rank as Brigadier-General also makes sense. The rank, but not the role, of a Brigadier-General was abolished in 1922 and was renamed Colonel Commandant or Colonel on the Staff. This changed to Brigadier finally in 1928. The change was driven to save money as Brigadiers (there were many retired Brigadier-Generals after WWII) would not receive a General’s pension. This change was replicated in most British Empire/Commonwealth forces.

The Royal Engineers have always been a purple organization, providing engineer support for all three services. When the Royal Engineers are selected to serve with the Royal Navy or Royal Marines they came under Royal Naval or Royal Marine command and were then subject to the Navy, not the Army, Act. Gibb, as a British Army officer under full Royal Marine or Navy command, would have been subject to the same strictures as a Royal Marine officer. In other words what happened to the highly talented Gibb serving with the Royal Marines was not unusual, it was in fact, common practice.

1.      BLUMBERG, H.E. Britain’s Sea Soldiers. Swiss & Co., 1927, pp. 455 and 492).
2.      CONOLLY, T.W.J. Roll of Officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers From 1660 to 1898. The Royal Engineers Institute, Chatham, Kent, 1898.
3.      Who’s Who, 1929, p. 1137.

[5] The London Gazette, 23 January 1917, p. 845.

[6] There is a notice in the Supplement to the London Gazette, 2 January 1915, p. 128 indicates that one Alexander Gibb (late Edinburgh University Contingent, Senior Division, Officer Training Corps) was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on 13 November 1914 in the Northumbrian (County of Durham) (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. It is unlikely that this man was the Alexander Gibb discussed in this research work.

[11] Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 January 1918, pp. 1-3.

[12] Supplement to the London Gazette, 7 January 1918, pp. 365 and 366.

[13] The London Gazette, 12 July 1918, p. 8200.

[16] The London Gazette, 29 April 1919, p. 5327.

[17] Supplement to the London Gazette, 16 September 1919, p. 11582 and 11583.