Pte 204394 Thomas McKenzie

• Age: 21
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 30th March 1918
• Commemorated at: Pozieres Memorial
  Panel Ref: P21-23

Thomas McKenzie was born on 25th October 1897, the youngest son of Edward McKenzie and his wife Sarah Jane (née Evans). His parents, both born in Liverpool, married on the 30th March 1891 at All Saints Church, Liverpool. Edward was a 19 year old labourer of Beau Street, his father, Donald, was a boiler maker, whilst Sarah was aged 19 also of Beau Street, her father Alexander  was deceased. They had seven children, Thomas had older brothers Daniel, born in 1891, Edward 1894 (born deaf), Alexander 1896 (died in infancy), and younger sisters Sarah Jane 1900, Margaret Ann 1906 (died in infancy), and Hannah 1909. Thomas was baptised in St. Mary’s Church, Kirkdale, on 4th November 1897, his parents’ residence 125 Foley Street, and his father’s occupation labourer.   

In 1901 his parents, with three children, are living at 55 Conway Street, Everton. His father is aged 29, a dock labourer, mother Sarah is aged 28, children Daniel 10, Thomas is 6, and Sarah J. 8 months. His brother Edward, 7, is a residential pupil in the Liverpool School for the Deaf and Dumb.   

By 1911 they have moved to 95 Howe Street. His father, 40, is a marine fireman, his mother is 39. They advised that they had been married for 20 years, and have had 7 children, 4 of whom have survived.  They have five children in the household; Daniel 19, is a trimmer (marine), Edward, 17, is back with the family, unemployed, Thomas, only 13, is working as a cow keeper errand boy, Sarah is 10 and Hannah 1. 

When he was 18 Thomas married Mary Smith, on 10th September 1916 in St. Mary’s, Kirkdale.

He enlisted in Liverpool joining in the 19^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 204394. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served for nearly 18 months, enlisting in about October 1916, not long after he married, when he would have turned 19.

Thomas was killed in action on the 30th March 1918 aged 21 during the German Spring Offensive.

As Graham Maddocks points out in his book The Liverpool Pals, the CWGC records 38 men of the 19^th Bn of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as killed in action on 30^th March 1918 when as the Battalion diary below, shown in bold type, records that the men were actually out of the line and safely on the way to St Valery- sur- Somme.

The composite battalion moved off from ROUVREL at 8.30 am at 50 yards interval between companies, arriving at SALEUX at 3.20 pm where they entrained, detraining at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME the same night. The night was spent at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME.

Apart from those whose bodies were not found and are commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial all but two have burial sites at Savy British Cemetery, which itself is within a couple of miles of Roupy and contains most of the identified men killed on 22^nd March 1918. Therefore, it would appear that the date of death for these men shown as 30^th March 1918 is purely an arbitrary one and that they were in fact killed on 22^nd March.

He was posted as Missing in the Liverpool Weekly Courier on Saturday 20 July 1918:

Missing Soldiers.

Pte Thomas McKenzie, K.L.R., aged 21, is reported missing since March 22nd last. Any information will be gladly received by his wife at 10 Pointz Street, Kirkdale, Liverpool. 

Thomas' body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial in France.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

His name appeared in the list of the Missing published in the Weekly Casualty List on 4th June 1918. CWGC now record his date of death as between 22nd and 30th March 1918.

He earned his two medals.

His widow Mary received his Army effects, Army Pay of £10 17s 2d and a War Gratuity of £7-10s.

Mary received a pension of £1-0s-5d from December 1918 for herself and their child living at 10 Poyntz Street (her parents address, Hugh and Margaret Smith). Their daughter Margaret McKenzie was born on 14th December 1918.  Sadly, their daughter Margaret died before she reached her first birthday, in November 1919.  She was buried in a public grave.

Thomas was remembered by his family in the Liverpool Evening Express on Saturday 24 May 1919;

McKENZIE - In loving memory of my dear husband, Private T. McKenzie, K.L.R., reported missing March 22, now killed on the date. 

We do not forget him, nor do we intend. 

We think of him daily, and will to the end;

Oh, how we prayed for him to be found

By some dear comrade homeward bound. 

But as we waited day by day  

No one could tell us where his remains lay.

- From his loving wife and baby, 10 Poynts Street.

McKENZIE - In the loving memory of my dear son, Private T. McKenzie, reported missing March 22, now killed on that date.

Could I, his mother, have clasped his hand,

The son I loved so well, 

And kissed his brow when death was nigh

And whispered “Dear Tom, farewell.”

- From his sorrowing mother, father, sisters and brothers, 29 Beatrice Street. 

He was a father true and kind, 

A beautiful memory left behind.

From his loving brothers-in-law Billy and Hughie, 10 Poyntz Street. 

His medal roll shows only service in the 19th Bn, but the pension card gives his battalion as the 5th K.L.R.  

His widow, Mary, remarried to Alexander Dunne at St Mary, Kirkdale in 1923 and had a family.

His mother died in 1932.

In 1939 she is living at 48 Wilburn Street, Liverpool with her husband and children.

She lived until 1985.  

His father died in 1940, aged 69.

Pte. T. McKenzie 5th Bn K.L.R. is commemorated in Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 20 

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