Name
Thomas Holton
9 Jun 1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/01/1916
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
13632
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CHIPILLY COMMUNAL CEMETERY
B.5
France
Headstone Inscription
THY WILL BE DONE
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary the Virgin Roll of Honour, Welwyn, St Michael & All Angels Church Memorial, Woolmer Green
Pre War
Thomas Holton was born on 9 June 1896 in Woolmer Green, the eldest son of Charles and Mary Jane Holton (nee Gowen). His father was a platelayer for the Great Northern Railway.
He was educated at the Elementary School in Woolmer Green.
On the 1911 Census he was living with his family in Woolmer Green and working as a House Boy. Later he was employed at the Knebworth Golf Club and afterwards by Henry Obre.
Wartime Service
Thomas volunteered and enlisted in Welwyn in September 1914, joining the Bedfordshire Regiment. After basic training, he was sent to France in March 1915 to join the 1st Battalion. He would have seen action the following month in the Battle for Hill 60.
He was killed in action on 30 January 1916(*1), aged 19. The War Diary reports only one casualty that day in trenches at Bray-sur-Somme who was killed at dawn by snipers as fog occasionally lifted.
He is buried in Chipilly Communal Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His mother, Mrs M J Holton, Woolmer Green, Stevenage, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "THY WILL BE DONE".
His mother received a war gratuity of £5 10s and pay owing of £2 2s 9d. She also received a pension of five shillings a week.
N.B. Some sources indicate Thomas was in the 2nd or 3rd Battalion, Beds Regt.
*1 De Ruvigny text - supplied by the family, suggests the date of death was the 28th January 1916.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper, Brenda Palmer
Brenda Palmer
