~ Chapter Eighteen ~
Serving Out His “Dozen”
After the War, HMS Queen Elizabeth took on the role of flagship of the Atlantic Fleet. Tom continued to serve on her until September 1920. In December of that year, he joined the much smaller crew of the minesweeper HMS Wisteria, sailing with her to North America, where she remained until February 1923. During that period, he passed the educational test for Petty Officer and was promoted to Leading Signalman.
Between postings at sea, Tom returned to the Royal Navy Barracks at Chatham, from where he would travel home to Margate on leave. It is said that he would help out with the local Sea Cadets on those occasions. This photograph shows him with his stepmother Elizabeth at the rear, with the young girl in the centre thought to be his stepsister Inez. It was probably taken when he was on leave in the spring of 1923. In fact, there is a record of Tom sailing on the SS Regina from Hamilton, Bermuda, on 27th February 1923 to London, arriving on 1st March 1923. This indicates that he was stationed either at the Naval Base on Ireland Island, Bermuda, or on a ship in the nearby dockyard and was on his way home for a spot of leave before being drafted to his next ship or naval establishment.
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From the middle of May 1923 until the beginning of June 1925, Tom served at HMS Columbine, the shore-based destroyer depot at the Port Edgar Naval Base on the Firth of Forth. Just along the road from the base, the village of South Queensferry, known locally as the Ferry, sits in the shadow of the world-famous Forth Railway Bridge. It was there that we believe Tom met his first wife, a young Ferry girl by the name of Annie McKay.
Annie had only turned seventeen when she married Tom in the Battersea Registry Office in London on 2nd April 1925. There was little time for a honeymoon, however, because three days later Tom was due to report back to the barracks at Chatham, having completed his period of service at Columbine. One week after that, he was on board the light cruiser HMS Ceres on his way to the Mediterranean, where the ship would be deployed until its return to Chatham Dockyard for a refit in December 1927. During his time on the Ceres, Tom passed the proficiency test for Yeoman of Signals.
Given Annie’s age at the time and her apparent haste to be wed in a civil ceremony a long way from home, we can only speculate that she ran off to marry Tom. Whether or not that was the case, it was not long before she returned, alone and pregnant, to the Ferry, where she gave birth to a son, Charles Frederick Gisby, in January 1926. Nor did her relationship with Tom seem to last much longer. Within a few years, there was another man in her life and she had begun a new family in the Ferry.
By April 1928, some four months after leaving the Ceres, Tom was back in the Mediterranean on board the destroyer depot ship HMS Sandhurst. It was his final posting before his “dozen” was up in September 1929.
Thirty-year old Tom Gisby had participated in the Great War. He had witnessed the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet. He had seen a good deal of the world during his fifteen years’ service in the Royal Navy. And, according to his service record, he had been an exemplary sailor throughout, rising to Petty Officer level. He had also been married and separated along the way. There was still the matter of his estranged son in Scotland, the little boy who bore the name of his own father, but for now it was time to go home to Margate and Civvy Street.
Tom wasn't finished with the Navy, though; not by a long chalk.
Annie had only turned seventeen when she married Tom in the Battersea Registry Office in London on 2nd April 1925. There was little time for a honeymoon, however, because three days later Tom was due to report back to the barracks at Chatham, having completed his period of service at Columbine. One week after that, he was on board the light cruiser HMS Ceres on his way to the Mediterranean, where the ship would be deployed until its return to Chatham Dockyard for a refit in December 1927. During his time on the Ceres, Tom passed the proficiency test for Yeoman of Signals.
Given Annie’s age at the time and her apparent haste to be wed in a civil ceremony a long way from home, we can only speculate that she ran off to marry Tom. Whether or not that was the case, it was not long before she returned, alone and pregnant, to the Ferry, where she gave birth to a son, Charles Frederick Gisby, in January 1926. Nor did her relationship with Tom seem to last much longer. Within a few years, there was another man in her life and she had begun a new family in the Ferry.
By April 1928, some four months after leaving the Ceres, Tom was back in the Mediterranean on board the destroyer depot ship HMS Sandhurst. It was his final posting before his “dozen” was up in September 1929.
Thirty-year old Tom Gisby had participated in the Great War. He had witnessed the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet. He had seen a good deal of the world during his fifteen years’ service in the Royal Navy. And, according to his service record, he had been an exemplary sailor throughout, rising to Petty Officer level. He had also been married and separated along the way. There was still the matter of his estranged son in Scotland, the little boy who bore the name of his own father, but for now it was time to go home to Margate and Civvy Street.
Tom wasn't finished with the Navy, though; not by a long chalk.