Name
Tom Lake
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Army Service Corps
Mechanical Transport
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
The name Tom Lake appears in the Hertfordshire Express of July 11th 1914, which reports him as a member of the organising committee for the Pirton Transept Fête.
He appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school. Parish records suggest only one man of this name who could have served and he was born on March 10th 1895 to Charles James (James) and Susan Lake (née Catterill), so he would have been sixteen at the outbreak of war. In all it would appear that three brothers served and survived – refer to Albert George Lake for more family details.
In 1911, he was still living in the family home near Burge End (a name then given to a much larger area than the current road) and was an apprentice coach and motor body builder.
By October 1918, he was serving as a driver in the Mechanical Transport, Army Service Corps. The Hertfordshire Express of October 10th 1918 reports him as being on leave from France for his wedding to Miss Alice Miriam Weeden, with his brother Harry acting as best man. Alice’s only brother Leonard Stanley Weeden was also serving at the Front. After the war, Tom went on to be the Pirton dairyman.
The 1918 Absent Voters’ List confirms the above information and clarifies his address as one of Handscombe’s Cottages (the terraced row now at the beginning of Shillington Road).
Tom and his wife are buried the St. Mary’s churchyard. Tom died in 1943, aged forty-eight and Alice in 1965 aged sixty-eight. The monument inscription also names Bernard Wilfred Lake, died 1993, aged seventy. Bernard was their son (b 1923).
Additional Information
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
