Name
Thomas Searl
1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
23/03/1918
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
41643
Bedfordshire Regiment
4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 5.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead
Pre War
James Thomas Searl (known as Thomas) was born in 1899 in Hemel Hempstead, the son of James Thomas and Emma Jane Searl and one of 13 children, the last being born in 1914.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at Cemetery Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Horse Collar Maker and they remained there at the time of the 1911 Census.
Wartime Service
As soon as he was old enough in February 1917, Thomas enlisted in Watford joining the Bedfordshire Regiment and was posted for basic training with the 3rd Battalion at Felixstowe. He was posted to the 4th Battalion when he was sent to France in January 1918, joining his unit at Beaulencourt, south of Baupame, France.
He was in trenches from February to March alternating work on trench improvements with time on the front line.
The Battle of St Quentin began on 21 March 1918, (part of the Battle of the Somme), and Thomas was killed in action on 23 March 1918. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £4 and pay owing of £3 8s 10d. His mother received a pension of 5 shillings a week. The surname on the Hemel Hempstead Memorial is incorrectly spelt as Searle.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk
