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The Spike or Victoria University College Review June 1917

Gilbert Bogle

Gilbert Bogle.

No one of the little band of students whose affection of Victoria College belongs to the days before "the old clay patch at Kelburne" will see the name of Gilbert Bogle upon our Roll of Honour without a heartache. In later days he was still with us, just as ready, as page 24 unflagging, as stout of limb. But in those days when men were few and need was great we learned, as few can learn, how steady and true, how trustworthy and dependable a man can be. That is how "Gib" impressed me. Steadfastness was the note he stuck. It was not a mere physical thing. The physical strength and balance had exact counterparts in his mind and morals. You felt that the whole man was a known quantity and could be counted on to the uttermost.

As an athlete he was rarely endowed. In old days when the two Bogles held a forward wing there were few hockey teams that could show a better pair. At tennis and running, at jumping and hurdling, at boxing, rowing and swimming he was far above the average. He was one of he faithful few, who, with Allan MacDougall, practiced in the early morning on the Basin Reserve in our first year at cricket. It was, however, at football that we knew and loved him most. We played Senior Football when it was at its hardest and when in our weakness we were fighting for existence. In those struggles he was at his best. He was down to every rush and it was no uncommon sight to see him bring man after man to the ground as the ball swept across the field. We wondered how he did it and what the score had been without him.

At Edinburgh University he added to his laurels. He became a keen soldier and won his captaincy in the University Artillery. He was captain of he Edinburgh University Cricket Eleven and at Rugby Football played in trial matches for a place in the Scottish Fifteen.

When Victoria College first knew him Gilbert Bogle was a cadet in the Audit Department of the Civil Service. Even then his mind was set on medicine. Later he entered the teaching profession, still biding his time. Throughout the good and useful years he worked, and without haste but with characteristic steadfastness he moved towards his goal. His life is a story of strong purpose unsullied by selfish or sordid aims. His death was not unfitting.

Before he left for the front he married Margaret, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Walter Fell. A daughter was born a very little time before his death.

page 25

Four boys of the same name have attended Victoria University College. Gilbert and Stafford have fallen. Archie and Gordon are at he front and they carry with them the friendship and esteem of a generation which looks back at Victoria College as the home of a very joyous company.

"And if the dust be all about our tread,
And white the glare along the climbing road
Clean thought will come of how the east was red
With promise, and the lanes with blossom rife
And fresh the dew upon the lawn of life."

F. A. de la Mare.