Private 6635 Thomas Price

Killed in Action on Tuesday, 4th December 1917, age 20 or 21.
Commemorated on Panel 8 and 9 of Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, Nord, France.

1st Bn., King's Shropshire Light Infantry. 16th Brigade of 6th Division.
Formerly 6635 5th Bn. and 6th Bn., King's Shropshire Light Infantry.

Husband of Mrs Edith Ann Price, of The Army and Navy Inn, The Green, Pembroke, South Wales (at 1918).
Born: Toll End, Enlisted: Shrewsbury, Resident: Ketley.

First landed France & Flanders, post 31st December 1915.
Medal entitlement: British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Soldier's Papers at National Archives did not survive.

Not commemorated on any Tipton memorial.
Commemorated here because identified as Tipton on 'Soldiers Died in the Great War'.

Link to Commonwealth War Graves Site: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1756074/

Genealogical Data

The following is highly likley to be the genealogy for Thomas Price but it cannot be definitively proven. If so, his connection to Tipton lasted just a few years as by the age of 4 the family had moved from Tipton and would not return.

1901 Census
Old Park, Dawley, Shropshire.
Thomas Price (33, Labourer in Brickworks, born Hadley, Shropshire), his wife Mary Elizabeth (27, born Ettingshall, Staffordshire), and their 3 children: Frances Ellen (7, born Hadley, Shropshire), Thomas (4. born Toll End, Tipton) and Clara Elsie (4 months, born Old Park, Shropshire).

1911 Census
22 Grecian Crescent, Bolton, Lancashire.
Elizabeth Price (38, born Ettingshall, Staffs) and 4 of her 5 surviving children of 11: Frances Ellen (17, General Servant – Domestic, born Hadley, Shropshire), Thomas (14, born Toll End, Staffs), Clara Elsie (10, born Old Park, Dawley, Shropshire) and William Gilbert (7, born Old Park, Dawley, Shropshire).

Elizabeth's husband, Thomas, was not recorded at the Bolton residence but can be found with his elderly parents in Ketley – a possible precursor to the family moving back to Ketley.

23 Beveley, Ketley, Wellington, Shropshire.
Thomas Price (70. Waggoner, born Ketley), his wife Sarah (73, born Bromsgrove, Worcs), and their son Thomas (43, married for 20 years with 5 surviving children of 10, Labourer at Tramcar works, born Hadley, Shropshire) .

Marriage of Thomas Price and Edith A. James registered in March quarter 1916 at Pembroke, South Wales.

Personal Data

Thomas's Medal Index Card shows his army number as SR/6635. This means that he was a Special Reservist, so had pre-war military training. It is likley that he served with the 3rd Battalion who were based in Pembroke from 1914 to 1917 except for November 1914 to March 1915 when based in Edinburgh. This is made more likely as in March quarter 1916 Thomas Price and Edith A. James married in Pembroke. Edith was Pembroke-born, and in 1921 married Henry Simpson in Pembroke.

After Thomas's death, his outstanding army pay and allowances amounted to £13/7/6d (13 pounds, 7 shillings and 6 pence); this was paid to his widow, Edith A., in May 1918. His War Gratuity was £15/0/0d (15 pounds exactly), this was also paid to Edith in January 1920. The value of the War Gratuity suggests that Thomas had enlisted in September 1914.

Edith was awarded a Widow's Pension of 13/9d (13 shillings and 9 pence) per week, effective from 18th July 1918. Her address at the time was The Army and Navy Inn, The Green, Pembroke. The pension would have ceased in March quarter 1921 when she married Henry Simpson, with compensation in the form of a lump sum payment.

Action resulting in his death

The noted King’s Shropshire expert, Annette Burgoyne, is convinced that the 12 men of the 1st King’s Shropshire recorded as killed on the 4th December were actually casualties on the 3rd. I am happy to accept Annette’s findings, and thank her as the following words owe much to her work.

On 3rd December 1917, the 1st Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry (1/KSLI) were located in the Front Line to the east of Marcoing, southwest of Cambrai.

At 10.30am a heavy barrage fell on the British lines covering Marcoing followed shortly by a German infantry attack. The 1/KSLI successfully drove off their attackers, significant enemy losses were observed at the KSLI wire.

The 14th Durham Light Infantry (DLI) line were located to the right of the 1/KSLI near the St. Quentin canal. The KSLI War Diary records that heavy German shelling was followed at 11.30am by a further German attack which broke the 14/DLI line. The KSLI sent two platoons from “D” Company to try and restore the 14/DLI’s line.

Soon after this the Germans entered “C” Company’s lines, where fierce hand to hand fighting took place. The situation for the KSLI had now became critical as the Germans were to the right rear in force, and the bridges over the canal had been partly destroyed.

Orders were issued to withdraw to the west bank of the St. Quentin canal to avoid being cut off, this started at 2pm. The survivors gallantly fought their way back, many officers and men had to swim the canal to get to safety. Most of those who escaped had done so by 3pm. The bridges were blown up during the early hours of the 4th December.

The 1/KSLI had rallied in the old Hindenburg Support line by 4.30am on the 4th December. The War Diary records that the 4th December was spent 1000 yards west of Marcoing in Brigade Reserve on the Premy Chapel Ridge, and that the day passed without incident.

The Battalion's casualties recorded for the 3rd and 4th December were: 1 Officer and 21 Other Ranks killed. 40 Other Ranks were missing, many of these having been taken prisoner. Thomas Price is recorded as killed in action on the 4th December, this was most likley to have been on the 3rd December. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial.

Newspaper Cuttings

None.