Pte 16441 Thomas Bolger

• Age: 21
• From: Eastham, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

16441 Private Thomas BOLGER 18^th Battalion, KLR.   

Thomas Bolger was born at Eastham Locks, Cheshire on the 06th May 1895, the fourth and youngest son of Joseph Bolger and his wife Mary (née Welsh or Walsh). His parents married on the 19th July 1877 at RC Chapel, Wexford, Joseph was a 23 year old sailor, father Edward, whilst Mary was aged 22, father James Walsh, both of Wexford. They had 16 children, of whom seven had died by 1911. 

The 1901 Census shows the family are living at Eastham Locks Cottages.

Thomas is five years old and is living with his parents and six siblings. His father, Joseph, is 45 years of age and his occupation is described as being the Pier Head Harbour Master and was born in Cork, Ireland, whilst his wife is 43 years old and was also born in Ireland. His siblings are listed as; Edward 14,  William 12, and Elizabeth 9 all born in Liverpool and Joseph 7, Margaret 3 and Mary A. aged three months. 

By 1911 the family are registered at 1 Lock Cottages, Eastham. 

His 56-year old father is a pier master employed by the Manchester Ship Canal, and his mother is 54. Three of the children are at home; John, 30, a cab driver, Margaret, 13, and Mary Agnes, 10. Thomas, 15, is found as a deck boy on the Pomona, a steam tug berthed in Old Quay Yard in Runcorn on the Manchester Ship Canal.

Thomas enlisted at St  George's Hall in Liverpool on the 04^th September 1914 in Liverpool joining the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 16441. He gave his age as 19 years and 121 days, his occupation as engineer within the hydraulic works of the Manchester Ship Canal and his next of kin as his father, Joseph, of 1 Eastham Lock Cottages, Eastham. He was five foot seven and three quarter inches tall, weighed 124lbs, 35” chest, was of fair complexion with  brown eyes and fair hair. He stated that his religion was Roman Catholic.

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th 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. 

Thomas crossed to France on 21st December 1915 as part of a reinforcement draft for his Battalion.

He was killed in action on the 01/07/1916 the opening day of the Battle of the Somme.

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks. 

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257.

Thomas 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 01^st 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.”

Birkenhead News 15th July 1916 

EASTHAM PARENTS SECOND LOSS. 

ANOTHER ‘PAL.’ 

The sad news of the death in action of their youngest son, Private Thomas Bolger, 2nd Pals, has been received by Mr and Mrs Joseph Bolger of 1 Eastham Locks, Eastham. Before the commencement of the war he was employed at the hydraulic works and he was one of the foremost in the village to answer “the call.” Private Bolger was only 20 years of age and has two other brothers serving, one of whom has been missing for about 12 months after serving in the Dardanelles campaign. [The missing brother was A.B. Joseph Bolger of Eastham Locks, who was serving with the Nelson and Benbow Battalions, left Mudros on the 15th May 1916 for Marseilles. He happily was on leave to England in early Dec 1916] 

On the first anniversary of his death his parents placed an In Memoriam notice in the Liverpool Echo: 

“In loving remembrance of Tom, K.L.R. (Pals), youngest son of J. and M. Bolger, of Eastham, killed in action in France, July 1, 1916, in his 20th year. R.I.P.  (Sadly missed.)”

Tom earned his three medals.

He is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Eastham War Memorial, Eastham, Wirral

Manchester Ship Canal Company now housed in the Rolt Centre, part of the The Boat Museum , Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

He is also commemorated on the family gravestone in Saint Mary of the Angels, Hooton, Cheshire, with his sister Margaret, who died aged 15 in 1913, and brother James, who died the same year aged 31:

             Of your Charity pray for 

                        the soul of

                ALSO FOR THOMAS

            BROTHER OF THE ABOVE

WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE

      JULY 1ST 1916, AGED 20 YEARS

             His duty nobly done

Personal items returned to his father :– 1 small book. 

Soldiers Effects and Pension to mother Mary. 

Father died aged 77 on the 16th April 1932. 

Probate 1932:- 

BOLGER Joseph of 27 Buxton Road, Rock Ferry Birkenhead died 16 April 1932 at the General Hospital Birkenhead Probate Chester 6 May to Joseph Bolger deckhand on dredger. Effects £135. 

The mother died a few months later on the 15th August aged 77. 

Liverpool Daily Post 15th Aug 1932 

Bolger - August 12 at 27 Buxton Road, Rock Ferry. MARY, widow of the late Joseph Bolger R.I.P. Requiem Mass at St Mary's, Hooton, today (Monday) at 10:30 a.m. Funeral immediately afterwards. 

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