Name
Arthur Toms
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/11/1914
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
1200
Rifle Brigade
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TOUQUET RAILWAY CROSSING CEMETERY
C. 7.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Croxley Green Village Memorial, Croxley Green,
All Saints' Church Shrine, Croxley Green,
Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial
Pre War
Arthur was 29 when he died and the son of Edward and Sarah Toms of 49 Dickinson Square. They had 15 children, of whom 12 were surviving in 1911. He was born in Croxley on 25 September 1885 and baptised in All Saints‘ church. Arthur’s father was a papermaker at Croxley Mill and several of his siblings worked there too.
He was a regular soldier and enlisted in the Rifle Brigade in 1905 at the age of 19. In the years before the war he served in Malta, Egypt and India.
Officially recorded as born in Watford (believed more accurately to be Croxley Green) and was living in Croxley Green when he enlisted in London.
Wartime Service
Corporal Arthur Toms was killed on 3 November 1914.
At the outbreak of war, the 1st Battalion was part of 11th Brigade in 4th Division. They landed at Le Havre on 23 August 1914. The British Army was defeated at Mons on the following day but the 4th Division was able to help stem the German advance at Le Cateau. Nonetheless, Arthur’s Battalion was forced to retire to the outskirts of Paris on 5 September before they were able to push back. By 14th September they were constructing trenches near Soissons. After being relieved by the French they moved north to the area near Armentieres. From 23 October to 10 November they held trenches at Le Touquet, near Ploegsteert, Belgium. Arthur Toms lies buried at Le Touquet Railway Crossing cemetery, some 10 miles south of Ypres. 27 other members of the 1st Rifle Brigade are buried with him, all victims of fierce German attacks during the first battle of Ypres.
After the war the Army paid his father £12 and 3d, including a war gratuity of £5.
Additional Information
SDITGW has his number as 1300.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Brian Thomson, Croxley Green in the First World War Rickmansworth Historical Society 2014
