Private 17418 Thomas Thomas

Killed in Action on Sunday, 10th September 1916, age 33.
Buried in Grave I. E. 12. (Coll.) at Blighty Valley Cemetery, Authuile Wood, Somme, France.

6th Bn., York & Lancaster Regiment. 32nd Brigade of 11th Division.

Third son of Mr and Mrs Walter S Thomas, of 18a Summerhill, Tipton, Staffs.
Born: Tipton, Enlisted: Conisborough, Yorks., Resident: Unknown.

First landed Egypt, 13th September 1915.
Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Soldier's Papers at National Archives did not survive.

Commemorated on the St. John's Memorial.
Commemorated here because he appears on a Tipton memorial.

Link to Commonwealth War Graves Site: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/185329/

Genealogical Data

Birth of Thomas Thomas registered March Quarter 1882 in Dudley.

1901 Census
28 Upper Church Lane, Tipton
Walter Samuel Thomas (age 46, Boatman Bargee, born Tipton), his wife Ellen (47, born Tipton), and their 11 children: Walter Samuel (26, Coal Miner, born Tipton), Caroline E. (24, Domestic Servant, born Tipton), William (20, Boatman, born Tipton), Thomas (18, Boatman, born Tipton), Annie (17, Domestic Servant, born Tipton), Sarah (15, Domestic Servant, born Tipton), Emily Ann (13, born Tipton), Alfred Hewn (11, born Tipton), Ethel (8, born Tipton), Richard (6, born Tipton), and Abel (4, born Tipton).

1911 Census
28 Upper Church Lane, Tipton
Samuel Thomas (age 55, Carter, born Birmingham), his wife Ellen (55, born Madeley), and 4 of their 11 surviving children of 13: Alfred Hewn (20, Assistant Cupola Man, born Tipton), Ethel (18, born Tipton), Richard (16, Learner at Ironfounders, born Tipton), and Abel (14, Learner at Ironfounders, born Tipton).

Personal Data

Thomas’s younger brother, Richard Thomas, joined the 18th Lancashire Fusiliers (Bantams) in January 1915 with fellow Tipton man James Kennedy. Richard and James were friends and workmates at Lathe's foundry in Summerhill, Tipton. Richard Thomas was invalided out of the army in December 1917 after being wounded, but his friend James Kennedy was killed on 1st November 1918. Some years later Richard Thomas's eldest daughter, Thelma, married James Kennedy's only child, George.

After Thomas’s death, his outstanding army pay and allowances amounted to £8/3/10d (8 pounds, 3 shillings and 10 pence); this was paid to his mother, Ellen, in March 1917. His War Gratuity was £8/0/0d (8 pounds exactly), this was also paid to his mother in September 1919. The value of the War Gratuity suggests that Thomas had enlisted in approximately December 1914.

Pension records suggest that Thomas’s mother, Ellen, made an application for a Dependant’s Pension in May 1923. No value is recorded but multiple entries on the record suggest that payment was made. In May 1928 an address change is noted for Thomas’s father, to 11 Tozer Street, Tipton. This may have been after the death of Ellen Thomas in 1928.

Action resulting in his death

The 6th Battalion, York & Lancaster Regiment (6/YL) first landed in Gallipoli on 6th August at Suvla Bay. Thomas first landed in Egypt on 13th September so would have probably landed in Gallipoli as a reinforcement later in September. The 6/YL had over 200 men killed in Gallipoli before their evacuation from the peninsula in December 1915, mostly before Thomas joined the battalion in Gallipoli. They served in Egypt until June 1916 when they transferred to France and their first front line trench duty was in the Somme sector in mid-July.

After a period at rest behind the lines in August and early September, the 6/YL returned to the Somme. Initially just behind the line at Martinsaart, they resumed front-line trench duty at Authuille on the 10th September. The War Diary for that day records:

“04.30am Battalion leaves by platoon at five-minute interval to relieve 8th Duke of Wellingtons in trenches before Authuille.
10.00am Relief completed.
2/Lt P.A.W. Richards killed by shell. 8 Other Ranks wounded.”

It is possible that the shell that killed 2/Lt Richards was also responsible for the deaths of at least some of the 8 Other Ranks wounded. 2/Lt Richards is buried in Plot 1, Row E, Grave 13 at Blighty Valley Cemetery, Authuille; the next grave is a collective grave for 3 men from 6/YL also killed on that day: Privates Thomas Thomas, Harry Morton and James Sharp. Although this is recorded as a collective grave, the 3 men have individual headstones.

Newspaper Cuttings

Tipton Herald 16th December 1916
TIPTON SOLDIER'S DEATH.
Tipton people regretted to hear of the death in action of Private Thomas Thomas, aged 33, a single man and third son of Mr and Mrs Walter S. Thomas, of 18a Summerhill, Tipton. He was a miner by occupation and two or three years before the outbreak of war went to pursue his calling in Yorkshire, coming home occasionally. He joined the 6th Yorks and Lancashire Regiment, and had been home two or three times on furlough before going to the front. His youngest brother, Richard Thomas, who formerly worked as a moulder at Messrs Lathe's foundry, is in the Lancashire Fusiliers.
The mother of the deceased soldier received the following beautiful letter from the Chaplain (Capt. T. Rees), dated September 11th:- "Dear Mrs Thomas, It is my sad duty to inform you of the death in action of your son, Private T. Thomas. You will receive official notice from the War Office, but I wish to write you a line unofficially to express my sympathy with you. As the chaplain of the regiment, I buried your son. His body lies in a little cemetery. He was struck by a shell on September 10th, and death was instantaneous. Your son died nobly, in a noble cause - he gave his life for his country. Your greatest comfort is now the knowledge that death is not the end of life. It was only the outward shell that I committed to the earth. The real man - the son whom you loved - still lives and lives a fuller life now than when this side of the veil. May God bless you and comfort you. Yours very sincerely."
Colonel G.H. Wedgwood writes:- "Dear Mrs Thomas, As your son's Commanding Officer, I am sorry to have to tell you that he was killed by a German shell in the trenches on 10th September. He was doing his work well at the time, and I hope you will hear from his Company officer shortly further details. He did not suffer in any way, and was buried yesterday morning, with one of my officers and several of his comrades, by Rev. T. Rees, our Brigade Chaplain. My sympathy is with you in your loss, especially as I am a Staffordshire man myself."