Lawrence Gilbert was born on 27 March 1921 in St. Machar, Aberdeenshire,  the son of Lawrence McLaren Gilbert and Jane Ann Gilbert (née Urquhart). He was drafted to the Submarine Depot HMS ELFIN at Blyth, Northumberland. He died from injuries sustained in accidental mine explosion. He was found dead after an explosion and a fire in a minefield on land near Blyth.

Apparently, Laurence Gilbert, and John Nash, another ERA4, had told a messmate on 30 January that they intended to walk to Whitley Bay. It seems they walked down the beach towards the battery only to wander into a sign-posted minefield with catastrophic consequences. When they did not return from leave, they were both posted as deserters.  It was not until ten weeks later, on 13 April 1944, that their bodies were discovered by firefighters fighting a gorse fire – which itself caused an explosion and claimed the lives of three firefighters, a soldier and a naval armourer.

Lawrence Gilbert from Mary Well Street in Aberdeen is buried in the West Road Cemetery and Crematorium, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

See further information on this accident amongst a great account of life at HMS ELFIN at northeastwar.co.uk