Pte 29177 Thomas Crook

Thomas Crook was born in Wavertree, Liverpool in 1890, the son of Herbert Crook and his wife Mary (née Crosby). His parents were both born in Wavertree, married in 1884, and had nine children. Thomas had older siblings James, Herbert (who died in infancy), and Emma, and younger siblings Walter, Annie, Herbert, William, and Florence.

 

Thomas was baptised on 22nd June 1890 in Holy Trinity, Wavertree, his parents living at 24 Waterloo Street and his father’s occupation listed as painter.

 

In 1891 the family is living at 24 Waterloo Street, Wavertree, with three children, Thomas is 1 year old.  Also living with them is his aunt Agnes Crosby 23, a domestic servant.

 

They are still at the same address in 1901, now with six children. His father is a house painter, Thomas is 10. 

 

By 1911 they have moved to 12 Castleford Street, still in Wavertree, with seven children at home. His father is a 49-year old house painter, his mother is 48.  Thomas is 20, a domestic gardener, and Walter, 18, is a domestic chauffeur.  Annie, 16, is a cardboard box maker, and Herbert 12, William, 9, and Florrie, 6, are at school.  Also living with them is his married sister Emma Kiel and her two children.

 

Thomas enlisted in Liverpool, as Private 29177, joining the 20th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He served nearly three years, enlisting in about September 1915. It is not known when or why he was transferred, but Thomas also served with the 19th (Pals) Bn. and the 13th Bn. K.L.R.

 

Whether with the Pals or the 13th, he would have seen action at the Somme in 1916, including a failed attack on the village of Guillemont, resulting in heavy casualties, and at Arras in the spring of 1917.

Thomas was one of those killed in action on 22nd August 1918, aged 28.

He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vis En Artois Memorial in France.

The Vis en Artois Memorial bears the names of over 9,000 men who fell in the period from 8 August 1918 to the date of the Armistice in the Advance to Victory in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos, and who have no known grave.

The memorial was designed by J.R. Truelove, with sculpture by Ernest Gillick. It was unveiled by the Rt. Hon. Thomas Shaw on 4 August 1930. 

His wife and parents paid tribute to Thomas in the Liverpool Echo on 18th September 1918:

 

 

 

His daughter was not yet two years old when Thomas was killed.  Mary, at 3 St. James Road, Rodney Street, Liverpool, was awarded a pension of £1-0s-5d a week from March 1919.  She received Thomas’ Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £14-10s.

 

His father died in 1926, aged 64

 

In 1939 his mother, 77 and retired, is still in Castleford Street, with grandson Jack Crook, 24.  His mother lived through the Second World War, and died in 1957, at the age of 94, still living in Castleford Street.

 

His widow Mary, 50, and daughter Elizabeth, 23, are living at 23A Greenheys Road in 1939.  Mary never remarried, and appears to have died in 1967, aged 77.  His daughter Elizabeth married and had a family, and died in 1976, aged 59.

 

Thomas is commemorated on the Trinity School Roll of Honour, Wavertree.

 

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