Pte 27479 John Wilford Thomas

John was baptised on 20th August 1896 in St. George, Nottingham, his parents’ residence given as 1 Storer Terrace, Nottingham.

 

A daughter, Jessie Ruth, was born in 1898, then the family moved to the Liverpool area, as the 1901 census finds them living at 96 New Henderson Street, Toxteth Park. His father, 28, is a dock labourer, his mother is 29,  Lillie? is 7, John is 4, and Jessie 2.

 

A son Arthur Philip was born not long after the census.  Jessie and Arthur were baptised together in 1901 in St. Thomas, Toxteth, their parents’ residence 36 Lodge Lane.

 

Another son, James Stephen, was born in 1903, and Sydney on 18th May 1906.  James and Sydney were baptised together in St. Clement's Church, Toxteth, their parents’ residence given as 36 Lodge Lane, running a chip potato shop.

 

His father John Syson Thomas died in the Workhouse in February 1906 at the age of 33.  The burial record on 06th February (Toxteth Cemetery) shows his occupation as seaman. (A John Thomas, age 27, born in Nottingham, is found as a donkeyman on board the Cavour sailing from Liverpool in July 1899 on a six-month voyage to South America.). His death left Jessie with six children under the age of 12.

 

In 1911 John, age 14, Jessie Ruth, 12, and Arthur, 9, are scholars/inmates in the Seamen’s Orphanage, Newsham Park, Liverpool.  His mother, 39, with brothers James and Sydney and two boarders, is living at 9 Barnet Street, Edge Hill.  A Lily Thomas, 17, born in Nottingham, is found as a general servant at 100 Hartington Road, Liverpool.

 

It is not known what occupation John pursued after leaving the orphanage, or for what reason he moved to Southport.

He enlisted in Southport and was serving in the 17^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 27479 when he was killed in action on the 30^th July 1916 at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive.

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.   

He was reported as Missing in the Liverpool Daily Post on Thursday 14 September 1916: 

Missing. 

King’s (Liverpool Regt.) - Thomas, 27494, J; 

He was confirmed as killed in action in the Liverpool Daily Post on Thursday 14 December 1916: 

Previously Reported Missing, Now Reported Killed. 

King’s (Liverpool Regt.) - Thomas, 27494, J; 

John's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, in France. 

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.”

The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that John served for over a year, enlisting in about April 1915, when he would have been 18 years old.

His mother, Jessie Thomas, at 36 Woodside Street, Liverpool was awarded a pension of 8/- a week from April 1917, and John’s Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £5.

 

Jessie remarried in 1918 to James McEnroe. He died, aged 54, in 1925 and was buried on the 26th September in the Roman Catholic section at Anfield Cemetery. 

In 1939 his mother, 67, again widowed, is still at 36 Woodside Street with son Sydney, 33, a shop assistant.

His mother died in 1947, aged 75.

 

His brother Arthur later served in the Merchant Navy.

 

Sadly, John has not been found on any other memorial.