Name
Thomas Ford
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/11/1918
38
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
5447
Royal Field Artillery
98th Battery, 1st Brigade
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MIKRA BRITISH CEMETERY, KALAMARIA
762
Greece
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the West Hyde memorials
Pre War
Thomas was born c1880 in West Hyde the son of Thomas and Mary (thought to be nee Saunders) Ford. He was probably Thomas William Charles Ford born 4th December 1879 in West Hyde and baptised there on the 8th of February 1880.
In 1881, he was with his parents, their only child, at Devonshire Road, 4 North Row, Chiswick. In 1891 he was with his grandmother Harriet Ford, together with two other grandchildren, Minnie Ford age 12 and Charley Ford age 7, in West Hyde. The 1901 census found him a Gunner in the Artillery, Sheffield Barracks, Langsett Road, Sheffield. In 1905 Thomas married Annie Ward in Preston and on the 1911 census they are at 65 Springfield Street, Preston with three children and two boarders. Three other children had died young. Thomas was described as a Fuel man Loco Depot.
Annie did not remarry and in 1939 was living with her daughter Rose at 71 Haydock Street, Preston.
Recorded as being born in Watford (believed to more accurately be West Hyde) enlisting in Hounslow.
Wartime Service
The 1st Brigade RFA was attached to 27th Division which was raised in 1914 and spent most of 1915 on the Western Front. It was then sent to Salonika and joined the British Greek Army for the rest of the war.
The circumstances of Thomas’s death are not known but his records say “died” rather “killed in action” so he may have been wounded sometime earlier than the 5th of November 1918. The 27th Division certainly took part in the Third Battle of Doiran on the 18th and 19th of September when British casualties were heavy. British and Greek Armies made repeated attacks on the Bulgarian First Army but all were repulsed. A few days later the Bulgarians quietly abandoned their positions fearing they would be cut off to their rear by the French. In the Battle of Dubro Pole the French Army had defeated the Bulgarians in the Vardar Valley and were advancing towards Doiran. Thomas may have received injuries at this time from which he died later.
Additional Information
Identified via CWGC.
Acknowledgments
Mike Collins
