L/Cpl 15065 Thomas Henry Hunt

• Age: 30
• From: Wallasey, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 10th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Thomas Henry was born in Birkenhead in September 1885 the son of James Hunt and his wife Agnes Mary (nee Halliday) who married in Birkenhead in 1884. His father was born in Nantwich whilst his mother was born in Wallasey. He was baptised on 04/10/1895 at St Hilary's Church, Wallasey. He was the eldest of 9 children his siblings were; Florence, James, Harold, Dorothy, Frank, Agnes, Philip and Marjorie (died aged 1).

By 1897 the family had moved to Congleton.

The 1891 Census shows the family minus Thomas are living at 2 Harnon Street, Altrincham. Thomas is living with his Great Grandmother, Martha Ashcroft at 18 School Lane in Wallasey along with his widowed Grandmother Sarah Halliday and her 5 grandchildren.

The Census of 1901 shows Thomas is still at 18 School Lane,. His Great Grandmother is now 86 and shown as a proprietor of a laundry. Her daughter Sarah Halliday, his Aunt Emma and her daughter all work at the laundry. Thomas is now 15 and is employed as a junior clerk in the laundry. His parents are living at 23 Vincent Street, Crewe.

His Great Grandmother, Martha Ashcroft died in 1903.

His father James died in 1909.

The 1911 Census shows Thomas is now living at 9 Wallasey Village with his Grandmother, Sarah Halliday as the head of the household. Thomas is now 25 and is employed as a Cotton Merchants Clerk. His mother, now widowed is still living at 23 Vincent Street, Crewe with Thomas's siblings. She remarried in 1914 to Benjamin Morris.

Thomas enlisted in Liverpool, joining the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 15065.

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th 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. 

He served overseas from 07th November 1915.

He had reached the rank of Lance Corporal when he was killed in action, aged 30,  between the 10- 12 July 1916 during the fighting for Trones Wood.

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II.

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary. The place was a Death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination,   the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

His body was not recovered and his name is now recorded 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.”

Newspaper reports following his death report that Thomas was employed by Messrs Duckinfield & Co. Cotton Merchants and that the flag over the Cotton Exchange building was flown at half mast on 23rd July 1916 as a mark of respect. 

Wallasey News

Soldier And A Gentleman

Local football and golf enthusiasts will deeply regret to hear that Lance-Corporal T.H. Hunt (Liverpool “Pals”), of Wallasey Village, has been officially reported as missing, and it is greatly feared that he has lost his life. A capital golfer, he was also for many years a local goalkeeper of repute, his best services in that respect being rendered to the old Wallasey Village Club. He was formerly a regular football correspondent to the columns of the Chronicle, and was a winner of one of our “pithy pars” gold medals. He was amongst the first to enlist in the Liverpool City Battalions and was well known and very popular in Liverpool cotton circles.

A letter received yesterday (Friday) by Mrs Halliday, Tom Hunt’s grandmother, whom he resided at 91, Wallasey Village, unhappily leaves no doubt as to his sad fate. The communication was from Lieutenant Heap, who stated that the deceased was instantaneously killed by machine gun fire on July 10th. The officer paid a high tribute to the sterling qualities of the deceased soldier, whom he described as a soldier and a gentleman. Lance-Corporal Hunt was in his 31st year. 

His mother, Agnes, died in the March quarter of 1921 aged 55.

Thomas is commemorated on the Memorials at:

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 55 Right

Cotton Association, Exchange Flags, Liverpool

St Hilary's Church, Wallasey

His brother Harold was also a Pal. He enlisted in the 17th Battalion before transferring to the Machine Gun Corps. He served in France and was both gassed and wounded, He was captured on 27/05/1918 and became a POW at Munster and Darmstadt Camps. He was repatriated to England on 25/11/1918 whereupon he was treated for a septic leg. He made a full recovery and lived until 1975.

Another brother, James, served in the Royal Engineers for 3 years before the war.

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