WW1 Casualty: Lance Corporal 4715 Thomas Stonehouse - Lance Corporal 4715 Thomas Stonehouse
| Unit/Regiment |
"A" Coy, 2nd Bn., Royal Welsh Fusiliers |
| Date of Death |
06/07/1916 |
Age at Death |
21 |
Burial/Memorial
& Reference |
Gorre British & Indian Cemetery
II A 21 |
| CWGC Family Details (if shown) |
Son of William and Emily Stonehouse, of 6, Shenstone Villas, Jockey Rd., Wylde Green, Birmingham. Native of Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. |
| Census Details |
1901 Census -
The family lived at 42, King Edward Road, Ladywood, Birmingham. William (30, a Silversmith) is with his wife Emily, also 30, and children Thomas (6), Annie (3) and Ernest (1). |
| Birth/Marriage/Death Registrations |
Birth Registered Q4/1894, Prescot, 8b, 698. |
| SDGW - Where Born |
Prescot, Lancs |
| Enlisted |
Birmingham |
| How Died |
Killed In Action |
Theatre of War |
France & Flanders |
| Notes |
In the 1891 census, the Stonehouse family lived in Battersby Lane in Warrington, as lodgers with the Mullins family. William and Emily had a 1 year old daughter, also called Emily. William was shown to have been born in Sutton Coldfield , his wife was born in Ireland and Emily was born in Aldershot. William is listed as a soldier, presumably based at the South Lancashire Regiment barracks in Orford.
It would appear, therefore, that at some point after the birth of Thomas, the family had moved to Birmingham, close to the original home of William Stonehouse, and it was from here that Thomas enlisted into the RWF. |
| Research Ref. No. |
P265 |
Service DetailsThomas service number falls in the series issued to Special Reserves and is in a range issued in early 1912.
Thomas Stonehouse was a Territorial Reservist with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Although his battalion sailed for France on 11th August 1914, a week after the start of the war, Pte Stonehouse only arrived in theater of 6th October. This suggests that he may have initially served with the 1st Battalion, as they arrived in theatre around this time.
In late October, they moved into tranches at La Cordonniere Farm, remaining there until mid-November in appalling conditions and under constant rifle, machine gun and artillery fire.
The battalion was involved in the famous "Christmas Truce" of 1914, when both side stopped fighting and met in No Mans Land.
The main action for the battalion in 1915 was involvement in the Battle of Loos in September, an action which resulted in over 120 casualties.
They moved to the Givenchy sector in June 1916, in preparation for the forthcoming Somme offensive, a campaign in which Thomas Stonehouse was to be killed.
Thomas Stonehouse's Medal Index Card. An 'Old Contemptible', he arrived in France on 6th October 1914, entitling him to the 1914 Star in addition to the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
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