Name
Thomas Kingsley
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/12/1915
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
17145
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY
II. B. 5.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary the Virgin Church, Therfield, Non-conformist Chapel, Therfield
Pre War
Born on 23 Nov 1894 in Therfield, youngest son of Charles and Tamar (Titmuss) Kingsley, and christened on 25 Dec 1894 in Therfield.
1901 census details
Father Charles 42, was a baker and with his wife Tamar, 43, they now had 5 children and a neice at home with them. They were Fred, 13, Lilian F.10, Stanley, 8, Thomas, 6, Daisy,4 and Hilda Titmus, 7.
1911 census details
By 1911 Stanley, a carpenter, Thomas, baker’s assistant and Daisy were still at home with their parents and a grand-daughter Ivy Rose, 3 was living with them too.
Wartime Service
Enlisted in Royston, Herts. on September 8th 1914. The medals card shows that Thomas joined the 8th. Bedfords with a no. 17145.
After enlistment he went to Shoreham Camp and later to a shoeing course at the School of Farriery at Aldershot, gaining a certificate as a cold shoer.
After training in Brighton and Woking, the newly formed battalion arrived in Boulogne on 30th August, 1915, although a newspaper reported that he went to France on the 18th of September. Either date entitled him to receive the 1914/15 Star, War and Victory medals. His parents would have received these plus the bronze Memorial Plaque after the war
The 8th battalion was in the front line near Ypres on 19th Dec 1915 when they endured the first Phosgene gas attack.
War Diary extract for 8th. Bedfords for early December 1915.
- 8 Dec 1915 - Watou Left POPERINGHE for Billets near WATOU BN.H.Q. in WATOU Coys biletted [sic] in farms near very scattered billets.
- 9 Dec 1915 Bde. Practice concentration very wet Bde. Inspected by Gen.Ross
- 10 Dec 1915 Bde. Gen Nicholson inspected billets.
- 11 Dec 1915 Coy training
- 12 Dec 1915 Colder some sleet & rain
- 13 Dec 1915 Route march in the morning. Inspection of M.Gunners by Brigadier in the afternoon
- 14 Dec 1915 Cold & frosty preparing for move to Camp C Wood A.30 sheet 28.
- 15 Dec 1915 - Camp C Moved at 2pm [comment; 2/Lt Rupert Harold GRETTON killed]
- 16 Dec 1915 - trenches at Forward Cottage Relieved 7th K.R.R. in FORWARD COTTAGE line of trenches
- 17 Dec 1915 Trenches very wet heavily shelled.
- 18 Dec 1915 Improving wire in front of the trenches & support trenches
- 19 Dec 1915 [Comment: The first German use of Phosgene gas] 5.30am Gas attack opened rapid fire the Germans did not come over the parapet very heavy shelling gas cleared at 7.30 pm. Telephone wires cut between coys. B.Coy. in FORWARD COTTAGE trench relieved by 1 Coy 2/York & Lancaster. Heavy shelling all day, also gas shells. [Comment; 2/Lt Charles James WILLIAMS died of wounds and Lt Edmund Wallis BECK died from wounds received today on the 9th January 1916]
- 20 Dec 1915 Intense shelling support trenches demolished & relieved in the evening by 2/Buffs
D. of W. on the card tells us he died of wounds (on December 20th 1915) barely 4 months after going over. This was in Belgium. As can be seen he may have died of Phosgene gas poisoning or as a result of the heavy shelling recorded. Generally only officers who were killed were actually named in the war diaries.
The news of his death was reported by the Herford Mercury on 15th January 1916
Additional Information
The family ordered the headstone inscription: "Gone from us but not forgotten". In the details of Soldiers’ Effects, Thomas is recorded as leaving £10-3s-4d which was sent to his mother.
His brother Stanley George joined upon August 17th 1914 and went to France in August 1915 and another brother, Fred, joined up in January 1915 and was in training at Ipswich when Thomas's death was reported. Three other brothers were had enlisted under the 'Derby' scheme and would have been waiting to be called..
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Jean Handley
