Pte 49541 Leonard Thornton

Leonard was born in 1880 in Uppermill, Saddleworth, Yorkshire. His parents Robert Thornton and his wife Alice (née Lawton) married in St. Chad’s Church, Saddleworth, in 1878. Leonard was the  second of ten children: brothers Walter, Reginald, James, Julius, and Charles, and sisters Mary Louisa and Dora. Two other children, Norman and Emmeline, died in infancy. 

In 1881 the young couple, both aged 25, with sons Walter, aged 2 and Leonard, aged 9 months old, are living in Court Street, Saddleworth. His father is an insurance agent. His mother’s family is living in the same street. 

In 1891 the family have moved to Church Road, Saddleworth. His father, is aged 36, and is a wool dyer, his mother, is aged 33. They now have six children; Walter is aged 12, Leonard is aged 10, Reginald is aged 7, Mary Louisa is aged 5, James Edwin is aged 4 are at school, with Dora aged 1. His father’s family lives nearby. 

In 1901 they have moved again, to 5 St. Chad’s Terrace, Church Road, Saddleworth. His mother Alice, aged 43, is head of the household as the father is not present. Walter  aged 22, is a plumber and painter, Leonard is aged 20 years old, and working as a tailor, Reginaldis aged  17, and is a mill book keeper, Edwin is aged 14, and is a dentist’s apprentice, Dora is aged 11, Julius is aged 9, and Charles is aged 7. 

Leonard married Ethel Wyld on the 03rd September 1907 at St Thomas’ Church, Stockport. Leonard was a 27 year old tailor of Victoria House, Uppermill, his father, Robert, was an accountant, whilst Alice was aged 27 of the Sun and Castle Inn, Higher Hillgate, her father, Samuel, was a hotel proprietor. Their daughter Kathleen was born the same year, and son Eric was born in 1910. 

In 1911 Leonard and Ethel and the two children are living with her widowed mother, Ethel Ann Wyld, at the Wellington Inn, Greenfield, Saddleworth. Leonard is 30 years old, and a tailor, his wife Ethel is 31, born in Greenfield.  His mother in law is a licensed victualler. Their third child, Nancy, was born in 1913.

Leonard enlisted in Liverpool and joined the Lancashire Hussars Yeomanry, as Private 7950, he was subsequently transferred to the 20th Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 49541.

By June 1917 the battalion had entered the Ypres salient, where Leonard was killed in action on 30th June 1917, aged 37.   

He now rests at Perth Cemetery, Zillebeke, Flanders.­­

The cemetery was begun by French troops in November 1914 (the French graves were removed after the Armistice) and adopted by the 2nd Scottish Rifles in June 1917. It was called Perth (as the predecessors of the 2nd Scottish Rifles were raised in Perth), China Wall (from the communication trench known as the Great Wall of China), or Halfway House Cemetery. The cemetery was used for front line burials until October 1917 and contained 130 graves. It was not used again until after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the battlefields and smaller cemeteries around Ypres.  There are now 1,426 WW1 Commonwealth burials in the cemetery.

His death was reported in the Manchester Evening News on Monday 09th July 1917;  

OLDHAM. 

Pte. LEONARD THORNTON, Liverpool Regiment, of Uppermill, killed on June 29. He was 37 years old, and leaves a widow and three children. 

It was also reported in the The Weekly Casualty List on August 7th 1917; 

King’s (Liverpool Regiment) - Thornton, 49541, L. (Oldham); 

He earned his two medals. 

Soldiers Effects, Army Pay of £6 2s 7d and £6 War Gratuity went to widow Ethel. She also received a pension of 26/3 pw, rising to 39/10 pw, for herself and the 3 children, living at Adlington, Greenfield. 

Leonard’s children were 9, 6, and 3 years old when he was killed.

He left £371 2s 9d to his widow Ethel.

She never remarried and in 1939 she and her children were living at 85 Broadway Street, in Oldham; her married daughter, Kathleen, is an assistant school teacher, her son Eric is a dental surgeon, and her daughter Nancy, is a textile manufacturer’s clerk. Ethel’s mother was still living with them, as was her sister Jessie. Ethel died in 1972 aged 92.