BORN HULL 1893. PARENTS UNKNOWN. RAISED AS AN ORPHAN. HUSBAND OF GRACE THOMAS, OF, 101 DAY STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS). HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. SERVED IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. SURVIVED THE SOMME BATTLES AND OPPY WOOD. KILLED IN ACTION, ON 27/04/1918, AGED 25.
HIS NAME IS LISTED ON ST MATTHEWS CHURCH ROH, BOULEVARD. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH ON 16TH MAY 1918. *
Hull Pals Memorial Post. CPL WALTER THOMAS 10/1268. Born in March 1893, Walter had a traumatic childhood. There is no record of who his parents were, but the 1901 Census has him living in the Poor House in Hessle as an orphan, so he must have either lost his Mum and Dad or been abandoned as a youngster. By the time of the 1911 Census, our man is on his feet and a Milk Man by trade, boarding at 59, Freehold Street, Spring Bank, Hull. I believe he was in the Territorial Army, as when he enlisted on 19th April 1915, he states that he is doing so in accordance with the notice he had been presented. This suggests previous military experience, meant he had been mobilised rather than actively volunteering. Maybe he’d found some peace in his farm work, or maybe his girl had steadied him, for after joining the Pals in training, he married Grace Daniels whilst on leave in July. He fought in Egypt and on the Western Front before being killed in action in the small hours of the morning on 27th April 1918, as the 10th Battalion launched raids on German positions around La Becque Farm. His comrades managed to carry his body back to their lines and he was buried at Cinq Rues Military Cemetery, Hazebrouck; he was 25 years old. He’d lived a tough old life, and deserved better. His CWGC grave, reads, “A LOVING HUSBAND TRUE AND KIND A BEAUTIFUL MEMORY LEFT BEHIND”
