Pte 49059 Thomas Entwistle

• Age: 28
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 13th December 1916
• Commemorated at: Arras Memorial
  Panel Ref: Bay 3

Thomas was born in Liverpool in the September of 1888 and was baptised in Kirkdale on the 17th October, 1888. He was the son of Thomas Entwistle and his wife Catherine (nee Quinn) who were married in 1867 at St Bartholomew, Liverpool. 

On the 1891 Census the family, all born in Liverpool, are living at 11 Butterfield Street, Everton.

Father Thomas is aged 44, is a tinsmith, mother Catherine is aged 40 with no occupation listed, with children William 22, employed as a shipping clerk ,James 5, and Thomas aged 2. 

Catherine Entwistle died aged 48 in 1899 and was buried on the 13th July at Anfield Cemetery. Father Thomas Entwistle re-married in 1900 to 43 year old Charlotte Graham in St Marys, Kirkdale.  

On the 1901 Census the family have moved to 4 Harebell Street, Kirkdale.

Father Thomas is aged 54, is still employed as a tinsmith, with wife Charlotte aged 43 having no occupation listed, and their children James 15, a paper hanger, Thomas 11, and Ethel Entwistle 9. 

There are crew lists for Thomas and elder brother James on board passenger ships from 1908-12.

In 1909 they are on the Cunarder RMS Carmania, giving their address as 8a Marsh St, Kirkdale. By 1912 Thomas had also served on Lusitania, Laconia, Canadian, and Huayna, his address 71 Upper Stanhope St. 

His brother William died aged 41 in 1910 and was buried on the 18th December at Toxteth Cemetery, his address 71 Upper Stanhope St. 

On the 1911 Census the family have moved to 37 Iris Street, Kirkdale. Father Thomas is aged 64, a shipping tinsmith, and Charlotte, aged 53, with Ethel Entwistle 18. 

His father died in 1913, aged 66, and was buried on the 23rd June at Kirkdale Cemetery, his address 8a Marsh St. 

He enlisted in Bootle and at the time he was killed in action on 13th December 1916, aged 28, he was serving with the 20th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 49059. 

Thomas' name is listed on the Arras Memorial in France as his body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost.

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

He is also commemorated on the Daisy Road Council School Memorial, Kirkdale. 

Soldiers Effects - Army pay of £5 0s 8d, War Gratuity £9, and Pension of 10/- pw to mother Charlotte, 37 Iris St, Kirkdale. 

Step-mother Charlotte died aged 62 in 1920 and was buried on the 4th May at Kirkdale Cemetery, her address 20 Olivia St. 

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