| Arthur Reginald Knibbs was born in South Africa, a grandson of John
Edward KNIBBS who emigrated from Charlbury, Oxfordshire, England in
1859. Arthur married Florence Oakshott in about 1921 and they had two
children, Owen and Margaret.
Arthur served in the 'D' Company, 1st Regiment of the South African Infantry during WWI and reached the rank of Captain. He saw active service and was wounded on 18th July 1916 in France at the Battle of Delville Wood which was one of the 12 main battles of the Somme, taking place between 15 July and 3 September 1916. Hand to hand fighting ensued until the South Africans were relieved on the night of July 19, having lost 766 dead among the four battalions alone; the dead outnumbered the wounded by four to one. Throughout poor weather and enemy artillery fire which reached a crescendo of 400 shells a minute, the surrounding landscape was transformed into a mess of broken, stumpy tree roots and massive shell holes. |
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Arthur Reginald KNIBBS, Lt, S.A.I. was listed in the Supplement to the
London Gazette, 3 June 1919, following the honor of having become a Member of the Military Division
of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE. |
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I've also learned that Arthur's younger brother, Horace Lester Knibbs took part in that same battle for Delville Wood, and whilst I believe he survived that particular battle, he was killed in action some seven months later in the battle of Arras, France. Communication with Arthur's son Owen tells us that Reginald was born in King William's Town in the Cape Colonies but later in life, moved to East London. After attending Selbourne College he took employment working for The Standard Bank of South Africa in East London. He enlisted for the South African Infantry at the outbreak of WWI and served in South West Africa (now Namibia) and France.At the end of the war, Arthur returned to South Africa and his job at the bank, but after marrying Florence Norton Oakeshott, he went to work for her father or grandfather at AC Oakeshott & Co., a wool trading company in East London. He managed that business until it finally failed due to the exposure of the South African wool market to imports from Europe. |
| He was a keen sportsman, playing rugby for Border, the provincial team for the Eastern Cape, and later in life enjoyed playing bowls and gardening, both at a competitive level. He also sang in a choir. He is remembered well by Owen for his sense of humour and devotion to caring for his family. |
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