2nd Lieut Thomas Yale Lloyd

• Age: 21
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: Welsh Regiment
• Died on Wednesday 12th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Flat Iron Copse
  Panel Ref: III.B.8

When Second-Lieutenant Thomas Yale Lloyd was asked why he enlisted he made this noteworthy answer- " I did it for two reasons; my duty to King and Country, and I wished to use my influence for good among my fellow soldiers". Certainly that was no empty ideal, for teh influence he exerted over his comrades, both officers and men, was quiet and profound. He was one of those modern warriors who entered battle with an old time chivalry. He fought with the ardour of one who knew, like the knight of other days, that he had his quarrel just. 

Lloyd belonged to the 1st Rhondda Battalion of the Welsh Regiment. It was they that fought that brilliant feat of arms in Mametz Wood in the Battle of the Somme.Even now, when the heroism shown in so many big engagements begins to be seen in its proper perspective, this grand assault stands out superbly. Celtic impetuosity thrilled the blood of these warriors from the southern towns of the Principality. Yale Lloyd was as bold and as eager as any, and he died as a fellow officer has told us, "Like a hero in a great fight". He died fighting bravely and unhesitatingly. 

Entering the battle on the 10th July 1916, he was still there two days later, when the infantry had the task of clearing the remnants of the enemy from a small position to which they were clinging. The Germans, we are told, gave these wood fighters the worst shelling they had ever had, and this brave officer and several men who were close to him were killed in the ferocious bombardment. Lloyd had shown himself the coolest and most resourceful of leaders, and one of the secrets of his success was his almost brotherly attachment to his men, whose welfare he studied continuously. Yet this heroic inspirer, whose deliberate purpose had been to set an example to others, was a mere lad of twenty years of age. 

He was the son of Mr & Mrs Hugh Lloyd, of Richmond Terrace, Liverpool. Dr. Thelwall Thomas, the distinguished surgeon was his uncle. Major Glyn Lloyd D.S.O., his only brother, is an ex president of the Liverpool University Guild of Undergraduates, and during the war he served with the Army Veterinary Corps in Macedonia, Serbia, Palestine and Egypt. Like their parents, both these boys were attached to the Welsh Calvanistic Methodist Church in Moss Side Manchester and in Fitzclarence Street, Liverpool.

Yale Lloyd was educated at the Liverpool Institute, where he joined the OTC and was in the Windsor Review at the time of the King's Coronation, and afterwards at the Victoria High School in Manchester. In the latter city he became apprenticed to a well known firm of wholesale warehousemen, but left them on the outbreak of war in order to work at the Y.M.C.A., he being then too young for the army. 

Early in November 1914, however, he terminated his useful Y.M.C.A. work at Bedford and Shepherd's Bush, and joined up in the 4th Liverpool "Pals". Some two months later, havong proved his qualification for a commission, he was gazzetted to the 10th Welsh Regiment, and was with them in the Somme offensive when he made the sacrifice of devotion to duty.

Of him it may truly be said that he threw his whole heart into whatever was committed to his charge. Sympathetic and loveable himself, he despised a mean act in anyone, and that very genuine stamp in his character accounted, in part, for his great popularity. Supplementing this was that invariable cheerfulness - a cheerfulness that so often vented itself in song- and that readiness to make military conditions tolerate and bright. During the training days at Rhyl and Winchester, he made the arrangements of evening entertainments for his men a particular hobby, and thus an inestimable bond of comradeship had been formed when they went at last on the great adventure overseas.   

"Lloyd was always, even unto death, a true sportsman who played the game, and he was a thorough gentleman". So wrote a fellow officer. "If he is no longer with us, his example remains as that of a keen and gallant officer whom all who knew admired" So wrote another. Such tributes, all bearing a note of true sincerity, could be multiplied. But possibly the most touching was the act of a humble ranker whom he found lying bleeding in a shell-hole in Mametz Wood , and whom he so carefully tended that he was able to be brought to Belmont Hospital. Seeing the report in the Liverpool papers of his good Samaritan's death, this wounded soldier called on his people to tender his sympathy, and to tell them that he probably owed his life to this young officer's solicitude in a critical hour. 

Truly it may be said that Second Lieutenant Yale Lloyd gave his life for others.

The above was taken from the book Liverpool's Scroll of Fame.     

Thomas was born in Liverpool in 1895 the son of Hugh and Jane C. Lloyd of 31 Richmond Terrace, Liverpool.

His death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on 19th July 1916   

SECOND-LIEUT. T. Y. LLOYD.

Among the Liverpool officers who have fallen within the last few days is Second- Lieutenant. T. Yale Lloyd, the "second son Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Llovd, of 51, Richmond Terrace, and nephew of Dr. W. Thelwall Thomas, of this city. Educated the Liverpool Institute and the Victoria Park High School. Manchester, he later entered the" business of Messrs. Rigby and Co., mantle warehousemen, Manchester. In November, 1914, he enlisted a private in the Liverpool "Pals, and in the following January was appointed as a. second-lieutenant to the Welsh Regiment. He joined his regiment the front in June last. His only brother. Captain Glyn Lloyd, A.V.C., an expresident of the Liverpool University Guild, is present serving with the forces at Salonika. 

Thomas now rests at Flat Iron Copse Cemetery

Flatiron Copse was the name given by the army to a small plantation a little to the east of Mametz Wood. The ground was taken by the 3rd and 7th Divisions on 14 July 1916 and an advanced dressing station was established at the copse. The cemetery was begun later that month and it remained in use until April 1917. Two further burials were made in August 1918 and after the Armistice, more than 1,100 graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields and from smaller cemeteries.

Thomas is commemorated in the Hall of Remembrance inside Liverpool Town Hall at Panel 65 Left.

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