Pte 17162 Thomas Wood Sanders

• Age: 22
• From: Walton Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

17162 Private Thomas Wood SANDERS 18th Battalion KLR. 

Thomas Wood Sanders was born in Walton, Liverpool, on the 29th April 1894. Thomas was the second of four children born to Thomas Sanders and his wife Sarah Ellen (nee Wood). His parents married on Christmas Day 1891 at St Mary, Kirkdale. He was baptised also at St Mary’s on the 21st May 1894, father was a cashier of 60 Chirkdale St, Kirkdale. 

The 1901 Census finds the family living at 4 Dombey Street, Toxteth Park, Liverpool. 

Thomas is not included in the family declaration so may have been staying with a relative. His father is 31 years old, occupation butcher, and his mother is 34. His siblings are shown as Edith aged 8, Mary aged 4 and John C. aged 1(everybody born Liverpool). 

His father died aged just 32 on 27th February 1902. 

The 1911 Census finds the family living at 36 Queens Drive, Walton.

They appear to be living with Sarah's mother and stepfather Ellen and James Shatwell and their daughter Edith a 28 year old elementary school teacher. Thomas is 16 years of age and is a cotton merchants clerk. His widowed mother is now 44 years of age, she advised that she had been married for 19 years and all four of her children had survived. His siblings declared on the Census are shown as; Edith who is 18 and a student teacher, Mary Dorothy is 14 and John Cecil is 11 who are both at school. 

Prior to the war, Thomas was a clerk with Messrs. Attwood, Beaver & Co, cotton brokers.

He enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 01^st September 1914, joining the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 17162. He gave his age as 20 years 124 days, his occupation as clerk and his next of kin as his mother, Sarah, of 13 Mauretania Road, Walton (later 137 Roxburgh St). He is described as being 5' 7" tall, weight 121lbs, 34” chest with a sallow complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. His religion is stated as Church of England.  

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

Thomas arrived in France on 07^th November 1915 on board the SS Invicta.

He was killed in action  during the attack at Montauban on 01^st July 1916.  

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257. 

Thomas has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

Liverpool Echo 2nd July 1917 

LOST AT THE SOMME BATTLE: 

SANDERS - In loving remembrance of my dearly loved son Private T. W. Sanders, Pals, killed in action, July 1, 1916. (Some day, some time, we'll understand). 137 Roxburgh Street, Walton. 

Liverpool Echo 1st July 1918 

SANDERS - In sad but loving remembrance of my son TOM, who was killed in action, July 1, 1916, K.L.R. 137 Roxburgh Street. 

He is also remembered on the following local Memorials

St Lawrence’s School, Kirkdale

Liverpool Cotton Association Ltd, Walker House, Exchange Flags, Liverpool.

He is also commemorated on the family headstone in Kirkdale Cemetery, Longmoor Lane, Liverpool:

PTE THOMAS WOOD SANDERS 
(PALS K.L.R)
WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION AT THE
BATTLE OF THE SOMME JULY 1ST 1916

AGED 22 YEARS
"SOME DAY SOMETIME WE WILL UNDERSTAND" 

The headstone also shows that his mother died aged 92 on 18th November 1958.

Soldiers Effects and Pension to mother Sarah Ellen, 137 Roxburgh St. 

Mother Sarah, dob 25th Oct 1866, appears on the 1939 register at 1 Cairnmore Rd, Mossley Hill. Daughter Mary D. is still with her. 

We currently have no further information on Thomas Wood Sanders, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.