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Peter, I'll go up this Saturday. Crook is only a few miles from Kendal so he might get a mention in the paper, especially if he wrote home.

....Peter, I went through the Westmorland Gazette from the start of February, 1902, up to and including June 21st, 1902, but saw no mention of John Gibson Braithwaite. There were three or four short reports of social events in Crook (no Braithwaites mentioned), so at least Crook got some coverage - most likely there wasn't anyone in Crook regularly sending news in to the Westmorland Gazette.
....I'll go up to Kendal again to continue looking from the issue of 28.6.1902 on, but I'm not sure when that will be.
....You're probably aware of his birth in the first quarter of 1871, which was recorded in the Kendal registration district. I couldn't find a record of his death in England and Wales up to the end of 1957. Perhaps he stayed in South Africa?

Peter,

His medal was awarded for his service during the Boer War.

After the war when the medal were ready to be issued, the authorities had difficulty locating many of those who had participated, particularly in the South African corps. After a while they gave up and sent the medals back to England, presumably to be melted down and the silver re-used.

Peter,

There is a record of a man of this name who died in Johannesburg, 2 September 1908. Aged 38, he was single and described as a motor mechanic. He was interred in Braamfontein Cemetery. He died of sulphuric acid poisoning.

Hi Berenice
Thank you for going to look for me, I can’t find any records of John Gibson after 1899 so I think he might of stayed in South Africa.

Hi David
Where would if find the record of the death in Johannesburg, It sounds as if John Gibson stayed in Africa after the war, I have found a record that he was in debt before he went so it would make sense that he didn’t want to return to England ,
John was a mechanic/engineer in England before the war making and selling bicycles along with his brothers.