Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916

CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916

Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916

Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916

Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918

Pte 49253 Thomas Moss

Age: 36
From: Borwick Lancs
Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
K.I.A Friday 7th December 1917
Commemorated at: Tyne Cot Memorial
Panel Ref: Panel 31-34

Thomas Moss was born in 1881 in Borwick, Lancashire, (eight miles north of Lancaster), the son of William Moss and his wife Mary (née Bibby). William, born in Priest Hutton, and Mary, born in Carnforth, married in 1869 and had nine children. James (possibly a half sibling), born in 1870, Ellen 1870, William 1872 (died age 1), Margaret 1875 (died in infancy), Christopher 1877, Annie 1879, Thomas 1881, Ada 1883, and Richard, in 1885. Thomas was baptised in St. Oswald’s, the Parish Church of Warton, on 19th June 1881, his father’s occupation labourer.

In 1891 the family, with the five youngest children, is living in Beckhouses, No.2, Borwick. His father, 46, is a shoemaker, his mother is 42, and Thomas is 10.

In 1901 Thomas Moss, age 19, born in Borwick, is a groom/servant in the household of Margaret Fearenside and family, at Green Bank, Whittington, Lancashire (about 7 miles from Borwick).

In 1911 Thomas, 29, is still in Whittington, employed as a horseman/servant on the farm of Henry and Eleanor Mackereth, Low Hall.

Thomas enlisted as Private 23718 King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, Thomas served about 15 months, suggesting he enlisted in about September 1916.

At some point he was transferred to the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 49253. As his service record has not survived, the details are not known, but the 18th Bn was involved in the Battle of Arras in April 1917, and in May marched north to the Ypres Salient. The Third Battle of Ypres (also known as Passchendaele) began on 31st July and continued until November.

The 18th Bn War a diary records -

On 4th December the battalion moved up to front line trenches at Gheluvelt, No.3 Coy on right, No.4 Coy in centre, and No.2 Coy on left. Heavy enemy shelling, all calibres and Minenwerfers. Several direct hits on R. Coy posts. Retaliation asked for but little response from our guns. Casualties 6 killed, 6 wounded.

December 5 - Enemy opened heavy machine gun fire, and fired salvos of 77s on working parties. Heavy shelling, all calibres, consequent on movement being observed. Enemy M.G.s active along Bassevillebeek Valley. Casualties 2 wounded.

December 6 - Heavy bursts of fire on Bassevillebeek Valley for about 10 minutes. Enemy very vigilant and invariably shelled movement around Bn H.Q. after dawn. During the night 6/7th violent bursts of fire 7.7 + 10.5 cm + 18cm were directed against Bn H.Q. vicinity, Dumbarton Wood and tracks. Casualties 3 wounded, 1 killed (300182 Baker)

December 7 - 7 a.m. Violent bursts of fire, all calibres. Casualties 3 killed. Those killed were Ptes. 49253 Moss, 300177 Atherton, and 58565 Moore.

Thomas was 36 years of age when he was killed in action. His body was not recovered from the battlefield and his name is on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

His Army effects went to his married sister Ada Stockwell, as well as a War Gratuity of £6-10s. The pension card in the name of his mother Mary, at West View, Priest Hutton, near Carnforth, shows that a pension was refused. The decision was apparently reversed, and a pension awarded.

His younger brother Richard also served in the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. He died at No.10 Stationary Hospital in France on 13th September 1917, age 32, and now rests in Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery, St. Omer.

Thomas is also commemorated on the following Memorials:

Borwick and Priest Hutton Memorial Hall

St Oswalds Church on the Cross in the Churchyard, Warton near Carnforth.

St Mary's Church, Borwick.

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

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