BORN HULL 1884. SON OF THOMAS WILMOT (1851-1929) & EMMA THOMPSON (1851-1947), OF 15 , BEACONSFIELD STREET , QUEENS ROAD, HULL. HUSBAND OF ADA THORP (1884-1961), OF HULL AND LATER 8 WAXHLME ROAD, WITHERNESEA. PRINT WORKER & WAREHOUSEMAN. ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. DIED OF WOUNDS ON 28/03/1918, AGED 33.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE THOMAS EDWARD WILMOT 24881. Born in 1884, Thomas was the youngest of ten children to Thomas and Emma Wilmot of 15 Beaconsfield Street, Queens Road, Hull. A Paper Warehouseman by trade, he married Ada Thorp at All Saints Church on 10/08/1912, and the couple settled at 5 Cedar Grove, Exchange Street and then 5 Horace Avenue, Cave Street, Hull where their only son, Arthur Edward Wilmot (1914-2002), was born on 27th July 1914. Eight days later the country was at war. Thomas wasn’t swept up in the quest for glory or the romantic notion of “doing his bit”, he enlisted on 03/05/1916, just before his hand was forced by the passing of the Conscription Act. His army records describe him as 5 foot, 7 inches tall, 128 lbs weigh and with a 35.5 inch chest size. Originally posted to the 1st Battalion, he arrived in France in December 1916, but was hospitalised the following March with septic abrasions in his foot and shipped back to hospital at Newhaven. He did not return to France until 27/07/1917, when he was transferred to the 13th Battalion and then to the 11th when the two merged in February 1918. Thomas Edward Wilmot was fatally wounded during the German Spring Offensive, and though he was helped from the front line to the hospital centre at Boulogne, he died of wounds on 28th March 1918. Thomas is buried at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery; he was 33 years old. His wdow Ada, moved to Withernsea after the war where she remarried.
Background. When the German spring offensive opened on 21 March 1918, 31st Division was in reserve, with 10th and 11th EYR Battalions digging trenches in the ‘Army Line’ behind the front. On 23 March the division was sent up to hold off the German attack at St Léger, but 92 Bde remained in reserve at Ervillers, improvising the defences. Ervillers was attacked on the evening of 24 March, the defence being confused by British troops retreating from the forward defences. Two companies of 10th Bn were pushed up to reinforce 11th Bn fighting in the village streets. About midnight a German patrol got into the village, but was captured by 11th Bn’s HQ staff. The following day the 11th Bn was reinforced by 10th Bn Manchester Regiment of 42nd (East Lancashire) Division and their combined fire stopped the German advance. However, events elsewhere meant that the 31st and 42nd Divisions were ordered on the morning of 27 March to retire through Courcelles-le-Comte.
On 27th March 1917, the brigade defended Ayette aerodrome against repeated attacks from 11.20am to 16.30pm, when with both flanks ‘in the air’, the brigade pulled back to the partly-dug ‘Purple Line’ in front of Ayette village. Between 24 and 27 March, 10th EYR Bn had lost 211 officers and men, and was praised “for its exceptional gallantry on March 27” by the Commander in Chief of the BEF, Sir Douglas Haig. During the night, Lt-Col Headlam of 10th Bn led up a composite battalion of troops from the quartermasters’ details of all three battalions to take over part of the Purple Line, and they helped to recover some 18-pounder ammunition from behind enemy lines, which was fired the following day. Although fighting continued elsewhere along the line, 28 March was a quieter day for 92 Bde, and 11th Bn took over some trenches started by 210th Field Company, Royal Engineers, which they continued to dig. The brigade was relieved on 31 March and marched back to billets near Pommier.
His brother, Harold Wilmot (1877-1965) was a former East Yorkshire soldier. Another brother, Frederick Wilmott, (1880-1959), served as Private 12/836, in the East Yorkshire Regiment. His other brother, George Hamilton Wilmott (1890-1980), served during the war as Private, 026782, Royal Army Service Corps.
Thank you to Nadine Tull, who sent the photograph of her Great Uncle, Thomas Edward Wilmot (1884-1918), on 24/03/2020.
