WORKING NOTES

Bn 27/8/1897, Swansea. Parents Robert & Matilda - youngest of 10 children

1901 - Brynmill School Admission, 17 Rhyddings Pk Rd. DOB-17/8/1897

1904 - Baptism (Named Tom). DOB 27/8/1897. Parents Robert & Matilda. 57 Spring Terrace. Robert sail maker

1911 - 17 Burrows Rd, Swansea. 14yo. Occ-Boy Printer Newspaper. W parents and 3 older siblings. Father- Night Watchman County Council

1919 - Married Elizabeth Peak, Bedford. Met when he was based there in 1915

1921 - 4 Walker Rd, Swansea. 23y10m. Occ- Sheet Metal Worker (Chiefly Motor), JH Nott & Sons Ltd, 4 Picton Place. W wife Elizabeth (fr Bedford) and daughter Elizabeth (1921)

1939 - 30 Dillwyn St, Swansea. DOB 27/8/1897. Occ-Radio Repairer. W wife Elizabeth, Betty/Elizabeth (1921), Joyce (1923), Joan (1930) & Jack (1932) plus 2 redacted

1959 - Married Phyllis E Samuel, Swansea

1963 - Died 7/11/1963 aged 68. 30 Dillwyn St. Survived by second wife Phyllis Emro

WORKING NOTES

- Enlisted in March 1913, most likely in the 1st Glamorgan Battery of the 1st Welsh (Howitzer) Brigade (who were based in Swansea). It looks like he was under age. Min age was normally 17 but it appears he was not even 16. This was a Territorial Force unit, so he would have attended weekly drill sessions at the drill hall in Richardson Street and an annual summer camp.

- When war was declared, the Brigade had just left for summer camp camp on Salisbury Plain. They quickly turned round and returned to Swansea them moved to Shrewsbury where the Welsh Territorial Division concentrated. They were only there for 3 weeks and then moved to Northampton where they stayed until Christmas, moving to Cambridge (coincidentally, just a stones throw from me). They were inspected by the King and finally moved to Bedford in May 15. This is where I believe he met his first wife - they married after the War.

- The (now renamed) 53rd Welsh Division went to Gallipoli in 1915, but fortunately the artillery remained behind. The Division suffered terribly.

- The artillery finally went overseas in November, with 401 men of the Brigade travelling from Southampton to Le Havre on the night of 21/2s November 1915. A surviving record confirms that Tom made that journey. There is also a surviving picture of the Brigade NCOs taken before they left - Bombadier McNamara is in that picture (the small thumbnail inset into the photo on his page). They moved to the Somme area (which was quiet at the time and spent a week in the frontline nr Mametz in Dec 15 gaining experience before falling back just before Christmas.

- In January, they received orders to rejoin the Division in Egypt and made the dangerous 5 day crossing from Marseilles to Alexandria in early Feb. I cannot be certain he made the journey, but it would be very unusual if he had not.

The rest of this is based on the assumption that he went to Egypt...

- In Egypt, they moved to Beni Salama (nr Cairo) to acclimatise and many of the men went to Cairo and visited the sites & pyramids. In May, they took over Suez Canal defences and November started the long, thirsty march across the Sinai desert to push the Turkish Army back.

- In early 1917, the Brigade took part in the first 2 unsuccessful Battles of Gaza and in November, the successful 3rd Battle and then they continued to push the Turks back to Jerusalem which they took at the end of 1917.

- 1918 the advance continued through the Judaen Hills to Jordan, It was dangerous hard fighting and towards the end sickness was also a huge problem (many of the men got Malaria which they suffered with for the rest of their lives)

- Following the Turkish Armistice, they returned to Alexandria and then Wales (after a short delay due to civil unrest in Egypt) and most of the men were demobilized in the spring of 1919.