Name
Thomas Victor Piercey (MM)
1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
07/04/1918
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
15540
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Military Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ST. SEVER CEMETERY EXTENSION, ROUEN
P. IX. C. 1A.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Memorial Plaque, St Lawrence Church, Bovingdon, Memorial Plaque, Memorial Hall, Bovingdon
Pre War
Thomas Victor Piercey was born in 1896 in Stockwell and baptised on 11 Dec 1896 in All Saint’s, Lambeth, the son of Agnes Piercey. Baptism records give their address as 41 Jeffries Road, Lambeth.
His mother was born in West Wycombe, and was working as a servant to Alfred and Jane Balting in Great Marlow, Bucks in 1891. By the 1901 Census she had moved to Hampstead and was a Parlourmaid at the home of Lionel and Mary Robinson. At the same time, her son Thomas was a 4 year old visitor at the home of James Onslow, a 61 year old widower of 51 Bollo Lane, Acton, Middx. James Onslow died in 1907 and by the 1911 Census Thomas was living in The School of Handicrafts for Poor Boys in Chertsey, Surrey, and training to be a gardener.
Wartime Service
Thomas enlisted at Watford and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment soon after the outbreak of war. After basic training he was assigned to the 7th (Service) Battalion and was sent to France, arriving on 26 July 1915.
War diaries report that they were under almost constant artillery fire and in trenches from early September, The 7th Battalion were in Carnoy Trenches at the beginning of July 1916 and fought in the Battles of Albert, Bazentin, and Thiepval, (Battles of the Somme). 1917 brought operations on the Ancre at Miramont and Irles and the Battle of Arras, followed by the Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele).
He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in battle, (London Gazette 16 November 1917), although the circumstances are not known.
Thomas was wounded during the Battle of the Avre, which began in early April, and died on 7 April 1918, aged 22, at the 6th General Hospital, Rouen, from wounds received in action. He is buried at St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France.
Additional Information
His guardian, Mary Smith, received a war gratuity of £20 and pay owing of £17 17s 7d. There are various spellings of the surname Piercey (Census and Registry) or Piercy (SDITGW and CWGC)
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, Dick West, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk
