Name
Thomas Tosh Watson
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/05/1917
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
9856
Honourable Artillery Company
2nd Bn.
"A" Coy,
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 1.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Bushey memorials
Pre War
Born on 2 October 1888 and registered in Islington in December 1888, Thomas Tosh Watson was the son of William and Mary (nee Tosh) Watson. He was baptised at Crouch Hill Presbyterian Church on 30 December 1888 and the record shows his parents were living at 8 Fortnam Road.
At the 1891 census, the family was living at 24 Perth Road in Hornsey. William and Mary were 43 and 39 years old respectively and William was employed as a Railway Clerk. Thomas was 2 years old and had two older sisters and one older brother. Their names were Jessie, Elizabeth and James and their ages were 14, 11 and 9 years respectively. The family’s birthplaces were given as Scotland for both William and Mary, St Pancras in London for Jessie, Kensal Green in London for Elizabeth and James, and Islington for Thomas. Also present was a boarder, Robert Johnston who, like William, was from Scotland and working as a Railway Clerk.
At the 1901 census, Thomas was 12 years old and living with his parents and siblings, Jessie and James, at 24 Perth Road in Hornsey, Middlesex. Elizabeth was not present. Both William and James were employed as Clearing House Clerks and Jessie was a Sorter for the Post Office. Robert Johnston was still boarding with the family and also present were four visitors, James and Wilhelmina Hunter with their three-year-old son, Robert, and Jane McIntyre.
By the time of the 1911 census, the family had moved again to 14 Highfield Road in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Thomas and Jessie were still living there with their parents. William had retired from his role as Railway Clerk, Jessie was still working as a Sorter for a Post Office Savings Bank and Thomas was employed as an Insurance Clerk. The record shows that William and Mary had had five children, one of whom had died in childhood.
Thomas married Edith May Moss on 5 October 1912 in the parish of All Hallows, Tottenham. Edith was living at 18 Birkbeck Road in Tottenham and was working as a typist for a wholesale stationer. Thomas and Edith had two children.
Wartime Service
Thomas enlisted in 1915 at Armoury House as Private 9865 in the Honourable Artillery Company. He and his family were then living at ‘Firenze’ in Brighton Road, Purley. He served in France and Flanders and was killed in action on 3 May 1917, aged 27. He is remembered with honour at the Arras Memorial. Thomas is not commemorated on a Bushey memorial.
There is an entry for Thomas in the National Probate Calendar for 1918, which reads: "WATSON Thomas Tosh of Firenze Brigton-road Purley Surrey private H.A.C. died on or since 3 May 1917 in France or Belgium Probate London 30 April to Edith May Watson widow. Effects £753 14s. 3d."
After the death of Thomas, Edith returned to her home in Tottenham to live with her widowed mother. She remarried (believed to be to a G Chapman in 1923 in the registration district of Edmonton) and an updated pension card records her as Edith May Chapman with an address of 91 Penge Road in Averley, London S.E.20.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
