2nd Lieut Thomas Utting Royden

• Age: 20
• From: Birkenhead, Cheshire
• Regiment: 1 KRRC
• Died on Tuesday 14th November 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial

Second Lieutenant Thomas Utting Royden
17th Battalion King's Liverpool Regiment/1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps.
A Biography - by Mike Royden

From the farming stock of Wirral, to the Somme battlefield, this is a sad story, full of tragedy and loss, but also of the bravery of a teenage officer who had lied about his age to get into the Liverpool Pals in the first week of volunteering. To the horrors of Delville Wood and Beaumont Hamel, this grandson of a Liverpool Mayor left his mark in more ways than one. A family secret kept for a century, this story also features a street named after the family, a neighbour of Everton FC, the first club doctor for Liverpool FC and a relative who played against Brazil in their first national game.Not to mention bringing Clark Gable home for tea. 

Please click here for the full story http://www.roydenhistory.co.uk/mrlhp/articles/ww1/ww1.htm 

With grateful thanks to Mike Royden for his incredibly detailed biography of Thomas which is only one part of his fantastic website www.roydenhistory.co uk