Pte 35028 Thomas Tomlinson

• Age: 22
• From: Wheelton Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• Died Thursday 6th June 1918
• Commemorated at: Ham British Cem
  Panel Ref: II.E.34

Thomas was born on the 20^th December 1895, and baptised in Heapey Parish Church on 26^th January 1896.  His parents were living in Bennett Row, Wheelton, his father’s occupation is labourer.  His parents William Thomas Tomlinson, born in Wheelton, Lancashire, and Alice Heyes , born in Croston, Lancashire, married in Chorley in 1891.  Thomas was the third of seven children, all born in Wheelton. He had older siblings Amelia and John, and younger siblings Edward, Alfred, Ann, and Catherine.

In 1899 Thomas was enrolled into the Wheelton Church of England school.

In 1901 the family is living at 3 Bennett Row, Wheelton. His father is a 35 year old pipe fitter mechanic in a paper mill. His mother is 32 years of age and has no occupation listed. There are five children listed in the household; Amelia aged 8, John is 7, Thomas is 5, Edward is 3 and Alfred is 1 year old.

Sadly, his sister Amelia died in 1903, aged 11, and his father died the next year, aged 39, leaving Alice with six children under the age of 11.

In 1911 Alice now aged 44 and a widow and her six children are still in Bennett Row.  The three older children are helping to support the family.  John, 17, is a size wheeler for a paper manufacturer. Thomas, 15, is a paper catcher, also for a paper manufacturer, Edward, 13, is a spinner’s assistant for a cotton manufacturer. Alfred 11, Ann 8, and Catherine 6 are at school.

Thomas enlisted in Chorley, but unfortunately the details of his service are not known as his military record has not survived. Whilst in the Ypres salient, in September 1917, 290 men from Lancashire Hussars are amalgamated with the 18^th Battalion of The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment.

Thomas was serivng in the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private No 35028  when he was taken as a Prisoner Of War.

German POW records show that Thomas was captured at Ham on 23^rd March 1918 at Ham during the German Spring Offensive (although his official Army Pension Card shows 21^st March). 

According to International Red Cross records, after Thomas was captured, he was transported 400 miles away to Stendal POW camp in Saxony.  At some point he was transported back to Ham and put to work in the Battle Zone (in contravention of international law).  He was killed, aged 22, on the 06^th June, with 17 others (including another Liverpool Pal, Private 49078 George Edwards), by bombs dropped from a French plane. The German record states: “The above named 18 English prisoners of war were killed on the 06^th June 1918 by French aviator bombs.”

Philip Orr, the author of "On The Road To The Somme" writes a few paragraphs about the bombing, stating his uncle Corporal Martin was killed in this incident, working behind the lines as a POW, sometimes in the canteens.

He was reported as missing on 28th May 1918 in Weekly Casualty List.

Thomas now rests in Ham British Cemetery, France. His headstone advises that he is buried near this spot. The epitaph on his headstone reads:

“GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN”

In January, February and March 1918, the 61st (South Midland) Casualty Clearing Station was posted at Ham, but on the 23rd March the Germans, in their advance towards Amiens, crossed the Somme at Ham, and the town remained in German hands until the French First Army re-entered it on the following 6th September.

Ham British Cemetery was begun in January 1918 by the 61st Casualty Clearing Station as an extension of Muille-Villette German Cemetery.

In 1919 the graves in the British Cemetery were regrouped and others were added from the following sites:-

HAM COMMUNAL CEMETERY GERMAN EXTENSION (the "Neuer Friedhof Chaunystrasse"); CROIX-MOLIGNAUX GERMAN CEMETERY (March and April 1918); ESMERY HALLON CHURCHYARD; VILLERS ST. CHRISTOPHE CHURCHYARD (March 1918); EPPEVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY GERMAN EXTENSION (March 1918); and ST. SULPICE COMMUNAL CEMETERY.

Ham British Cemetery contains 485 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 218 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 14 soldiers, believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 39 casualties known to have been buried in other cemeteries whose graves were not found.

Other German Cemeteries in the area were HAM CHURCHYARD GERMAN EXTENSION; MUILLE-VILLETTE GERMAN CEMETERY and MUILLE-VILLETTE COMMUNAL CEMETERY GERMAN EXTENSION. The British Graves from these three were moved to either HAM BRITISH CEMETERY or ROYE NEW BRITISH CEMETERY.

MUILLE-VILLETTE GERMAN CEMETERY adjoins the West side of the British Cemetery. It now contains the graves of 1,113 identified and 420 unidentified German soldiers.

His mother Mrs. Alice Tomlinson, then living at Sunnyside, Wheelton, received his War Gratuity and Pension.

Thomas is commemorated on the War Memorial at Wheelton Clocktower, Chorley.

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