Name
Thomas Frederick Butler
1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
08/10/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
G/5745
The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LOOS MEMORIAL
Panel 95 to 97.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Bromley War Memorial, St Mark's Church, Bromley, Raglan Road School, Bromley
Pre War
Thomas Frederick Butler was born in 1891 in Bromley Kent, the son of Annie Elizabeth East who was born in Flaunden, Herts a few miles from Hemel Hempstead. He was one of three children born to Annie East before she married George Thomas Butler in 1891 in Bromley, Kent.
On the 1901 Census, Thomas was living with his widowed mother at 23 Walpole Road, Bromley with siblings William, Florence, George and Albert. His mother was working as a laundress.
By the 1911 Census he was living with his widowed mother and 6 siblings family at 76 Victoria Road, Bromley, Kent. Lodger Arthur Bryant and his son Sidney were living with them. His twin sisters, Lily and Maggie, although listed as Butler on the Census were registered as Bryant when they were born in 1908. Thomas was working as a Carman.
On enlistment his mother was said to be living at 97 Victoria Road, Bromley Common, Kent and on pension records at Prospect Place, Mason Hill, Bromley, Kent.
Wartime Service
He enlisted as a Gunner (Reg. No. 48926) in the Royal Garrison Artillery on 26th October 1914 but was discharged as "not being likely to become an efficient soldier" on 4th November due to defective vision from corneal opacity. However, in February 1915 Thomas enlisted in the Royal West Kent Regiment and, after training, went to the Front on 22 June 1915.
On 8th October 1915 he received a direct hit to his head, dying instantly. He has no known grave but his name is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His mother Annie received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of 12s 6d. She also received a pension of 7s 6d a week. His brother George Butler died in 1916 and his other brother William was so badly wounded that he was permanently physically disabled. Arthur Bryant's son Sidney also died.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
www.dacorumheritage.org.uk. www.hemelatwar.org., www.bromleywarmemorial.org.uk
