Name
Thomas Pearce
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/03/1917
35
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
11353
Royal Fusiliers *1
8th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
FAUBOURG D'AMIENS CEMETERY, ARRAS
III. M. 4.
France
Headstone Inscription
At Rest
UK & Other Memorials
Addenda to the Prirton Village Memorial
Biography
During the research for the book "The Pride of Pirton" no records for Thomas were found, however in 2012 Thomas’ great nephew, Stephen Pearce, who lives in Australia, drew our attention to this omission and supplied much of the information that follows.
Thomas was born in Finsbury Park, so his connection to Pirton is not immediately obvious, however his father was born in Pirton, as was his father before him. His older brother, William, who also served and survived, was born in Pirton and the family returned to the village to have Thomas baptised. In addition, for the reasons explained below, he spent much of his earlier years living in the village.
Thomas was born on July 12th 1882 to Isaac (Ike) and Priscilla Pearce (née Mitchell) and was christened in Pirton on August 5th the following year. Baptism and census records list five children, all boys: William George (b 1879), Thomas (b 1882), Ernest (b 1885), John (b 1887) and Alfred (b 1891).
The 1881 census records the family as living at 12 The Grange; in fact the family had been living in Pirton for some time as William was born in the village in 1879. Isaac was absent, already working away from the village in Holloway, North London as a general labourer. He was probably employed on the railway, which was a popular source of work for many Pirton men who had also moved to that area. By the time Thomas was the born in 1882 the family had moved to join Isaac.
Isaac would have moved to London for work and the change in life style would have been dramatic. They would not have been well off in Pirton, but with space and countryside around it must have seemed idyllic compared to their circumstances in London. Their family life in London started in 1882, living in one room of a house on George’s Road, Holloway and then in 1885 they moved to 16 Hatley Road, in the parish of St. Anne’s, Poole’s Park, Finsbury Park. His great nephew, Stephen, is researching the family and area where they lived and he informs us that Hatley Road was ‘amongst the infamous streets that made up ‘Campbell Bunk.’(*1) He explained that the houses in that area were built from the 1850s and were designed for people who were quite well off, but that they were built slowly, the streets remained unfinished and unpaved and the area became subject to social decline. So by the 1880s it was an area of poverty, slums and overcrowding. The family moved around the area chasing better conditions or perhaps cheaper rents.
By 1897 they had moved to 99 Campbell Road, also Finsbury Park and still in ‘The Bunk’, but by 1899 they had managed to move Edmonton, later known as South Tottenham and nowadays part of Haringey. This was a marked improvement in their circumstances.
The family know that the two eldest children, William and Thomas, were often sent back to stay with their extended family in Pirton and this may well have been connected to the living conditions in London. In fact, Thomas had glandular fever and as a result spent almost two years living in the village with his uncle and aunt, John and Jane Pearce. When William and Thomas were aged fourteen and eleven respectively they also spent their summer in Pirton and on Thursdays they ran a market stall in Hitchin selling produce for their uncles and aunts.
In 1901, when Thomas was eighteen, the census reveals no occupation for him, but ten years later his life had changed dramatically. He was living at 220 Lanham Road, South Tottenham and had been married to Margaret Ellen Simmons for six years and they had three children; Thomas William (b c1906), David John (b c1905) and Alfred Edward (b c1909). Thomas was working as a milk carrier.
His war service record has not been found, but, like his brother, he had a large family when he enlisted, which he did in Tottenham. His medal card shows that he first served with the 2nd Royal Fusiliers and that he took an active part in the war from July 17th 1915. So he beat his elder brother into the fray. At the time of his death he was Private 11353, 8th Royal Fusiliers, so at some point he changed battalions.
Without his war service records we cannot be certain where he served or when he moved between the two battalions. It is made even more complicated because, as recruitment continued, additional battalions were added but were not given new numbers. In the case of the 2nd Battalion the original became the 1/2nd (first, second Battalion), then came a 2/2nd and then a 3/2nd. These were formed in August 1914, September 1914 and December 1914 respectively and were all part of Kitchener’s first ‘new army’ of 100,000 men.
It is difficult to establish in which battalion Thomas served. The 1/2nd went to Malta in September 1914 and to France in January 1915; the 2/2nd went to Malta on December 31st 1914, Egypt in August 1915, Gallipoli October 1915, were evacuated from there in January 1916, before moving to France in April 1916. The 3/2nd went to Bury St. Edmunds May 1915 and did not go to France until January 1917. We know that Thomas started his active war service in July 1915, probably enlisting in late 1914 or very early 1915. That would exclude the 3/2nd, but he could have been with either the 1/2nd or 2/2nd and his war service would have reflected their movements. We also know that he transferred to the 8th Battalion, but when? The 2/2nd was disbanded at Rouen in June 1916 and this may be significant as that might be when he was transferred, but is by no means certain. The war diary for the 8th Battalion does not record any new drafts arriving until July, perhaps an analysis of the 2nd Battalion war diaries at Kew will eventually provide more information on the distribution of their men after the Battalion’s disbandment, until then we can only surmise.
The 8th Battalion was formed on Hounslow in August 1914 – also part of Kitchener’s first ‘new army’ of 100,000 men. The Battalion saw significant war service and at times suffered terrible losses. While not certain, it is probable that Thomas transferred to them following one of these events, and quite possibly as a result of the disbandment of the 2/2nd. Perhaps the following events for the 8th Battalion, which are described in their war diary for July 1916, are those that led to his transfer and, if so, that would have been in July or August 1916. With the information currently available July seems the most likely, but that is speculative.
For the early part of July 1916 the 8th Battalion were bivouacked near Albert. They moved to the front line trenches on the 6th in preparation for an attack on Ovilliers – all part of the recently launched Battle of the Somme. The attack was preceded by the usual artillery bombardment, which started at 6:45am and lifted at 8:30am and their attack was launched immediately. Their objectives were: 1) the enemy’s front trenches, 2) the support line 200 yards to the rear, 3) the lines 1000 yards further on, 4) the church and houses nearby and 5) the final trenches on the other side of the village – it seems very ambitious.
The men went forward in four waves at intervals of about 30 yards and over a 120 yard front. The first was immediately hit by machine gun fire from their right flank. The no mans land that they were traversing was some 500 yards across and the Germans launched their own artillery attack on this area using shrapnel shells. The machine gun fire held up the first wave of the attack to the extent that they were caught up by the second and third lines with increasing casualties. Unusually their Colonel was with them; the diary records ‘With gallant courage the Colonel led the attack waving his stick, he shouted the familiar words of encouragement of a field day.” He was wounded in the hand before reaching the enemy’s first line, then he was shot in the thigh and briefly continued before being shot under the heart. This was a rare occurrence, senior officers were actively discouraged or ordered not to take such risks.
That attack continued but by this time only five officers were left, so the men were led forward by NCOs. The fourth wave had now caught up with what was left of the first three, but the first objective had been taken. Bravely they continued forward for the second objective, which was also taken. The remnants of the attack force pressed on towards the third objective taking some of the nearest positions, but they had to settle for establishing a new line somewhere between these two objectives. By this time there were no officers left; twenty-four killed or wounded or missing. Poignantly the war diary sums up the attack, “The Battalion went into action about 800 strong and came out 160 strong.”
It seems unlikely that Thomas was with them. It is more likely that he was transferred after this or another engagement. Indeed following the above attack they were quick to start receiving new drafts; 157 men on the July 15th, mostly from the 29th and 14th brigades of the Royal Fusiliers, and then 290 on the 17th. The war diary does not detail where these men came from. On October 7th 1916 they received another draft of 243, then 212 more on the 23rd and another 121 in January 1917.
If Thomas was amongst the drafts received in July, which at present seems to be the most likely, then he would have experienced the attack on August 3rd when they again suffered large numbers of casualties. There were, of course many other casualties but in much smaller numbers.
On the 3rd they were in the Tara–Usna line in front of Albert. At 7am they received orders for the attack and were to be ready to do so at 11pm. At 4:30pm they moved to the trenches from which they were to go ‘over the top’. Of the 8th Battalion’s four companies - about 225 men in each – two, ‘A’ and ‘B’, were to be responsible for the frontal attack and ‘C’ Company for a flank attack – ‘D’ Company was held in reserve. All day the British artillery shelled the enemy; steady shelling with periods of heavy bombardment. At ‘zero’ hour the first company crawled out, then when the bombardment lifted at 11:15pm they rose up to attack with the second company 30 yards behind them. They took the enemy by surprise and met little resistance as they entered their trenches, however in comparison, ‘C’ Company met stout resistance, but they too were successful after some hand to hand fighting. The two attacks had become separated by about 150 yards, so ‘A’ Company fought their way to ‘C’ using their bayonets. By midnight they held the enemy trench, but of the six to seven hundred men that had attacked, 3 officers and about 150 men were wounded or killed. The next day a further attack was planned in which the 8th were to assist. The losses for this were 2 officers and about 30 other ranks.
Whenever Thomas actually transferred, it was obviously before March 31st when he was killed. The period before his death, from late December 1916 was quieter, with much of the time spent training, moving locations or forming working parties, with only short periods in the trenches. The immediate period before his death was mostly the hard physical work of working parties, e.g. digging trenches, filling craters and repairing roads and transporting ammunition. Not without risk, but with nothing like the number of casualties they had suffered in battle.
The Battalion’s war diary records that they were billeted in Arras on March 21st, having marched there from Beaufort. They were still out of the line, but from the 22nd formed working parties of up to 350 men. Most days or nights work passed without casualties, until the 31st, then the diary simply states ‘The Battalion provided working parties as for the 30th (for this and the previous dates they were burying cables for the 12th Division Signals) the following casualties occurred, 6 OR.’ Thomas was almost certainly one of these, perhaps killed by machine gun or a sniper’s bullet, but more likely anonymously by a shell.
He is buried in the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, which is situated off the Boulevard du General de Gaulle in the western part of Arras and behind the walls of the Arras Memorial which record the names of the 34,750 men killed in the area from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand and who have no known grave. There are four names from the Pirton war memorial recorded here and a further two names of men with an identified Pirton connection who are not recorded on our memorial. Thomas is the seventh man and the only one with a grave.
The Pearce family was known to be close and some information that surely adds weight to his connection to Pirton and demonstrates the terrible impact of the war on families, is that Thomas has three first cousins named on our memorial; Edward Charles Burton, John Pearce and Harry Smith and also a further eight second cousins listed.
Some time after the war, Thomas’ widow, married John Pearce, one of his younger brothers.
*1 Stephen is researching and writing a novel about Campbell Bunk, which is an area that many Pirton people moved to.
Additional Information
Text intended for the book: The Pride of Pirton.
*1 More correctly (City of London) Bn. London Regiment (Post Office Rifles).
Acknowledgments
The Pride of Pirton book – www.pirton.org.uk/prideofpirton, Chris Ryan / Tony French / Jonty Wild, Stephen Pearce
