Private Thomas William Wilson

 13408,  C & A Company, 11th Battalion Border Regiment

Born 17th Jan 1897 Inglewood Forest, Penrith. Died 1977(?) aged 79 in Carlisle

Son of George Wilson and Sarah (nee Scott) Wilson , latterly of Woodbine House, Patterdale

Brother of Henry Wilson

Thomas William Wilson was born in January 1897 in Inglewood Forest near Penrith, where his father George was a farmer. George and his wife Sarah (nee Scott) had married in 1886 and at first settled in a cottage on George’s parents farm at Inglewood Forest. By the time Thomas was born they already had four children. The eldest Elizabeth (Lizzie) Ellen was born soon after they were married. A second daughter, Ethel, was born 3 years later, followed by another daughter Edith, in 1893. Their eldest son Henry Wilson, was born on 22nd April 1894. At some point after Thomas’ arrival the family moved to their own farm in Hutton Roof near Greystoke. It was here that another son, John, was born at the end of 1899, and a final son, George, was also born there in 1901.

In 1904 Thomas’ father George died at the age just 44. This was a difficult time for Sarah and her children who now left home as soon as they were old enough. By 1911 Sarah had moved to Liscow, Troutbeck, near Penrith, where she was working as a grocer. The two youngest boys, John and George, were still living with her but the girls, Thomas and Henry had all left home. 14 year old Thomas was working at Greenbank Farm Troutbeck as a cowman. Ethel was working as a servant in Greystoke, as was Henry, at Thwaite Hall.

Perhaps given the upheaval to his family it is not surprising that Thomas joined the army at the outbreak of war in 1914, despite being only 17. He joined the 11th Battalion. The 11th Battalion was universally known as the Lonsdales after Hugh Lowther, the 5th Earl of Lonsdale, who raised the unit in September 1914. Nearly all the men came from Cumberland and Westmorland and it was one of the many so-called “Pals” Battalions and wore a distinctive cap badge of a winged griffin from the Lowther coat-of-arms. The Battalion trained at a camp built on Carlisle Racecourse, in the Midlands, Yorkshire and Hampshire before leaving for France in November 1915, from where it went straight to the Somme. Alongside Thomas were other men with strong connections to the Dale, including Albert Stockdale.  

The Battalion, like many other of the “Pals” Battalions, fought on the opening day of the Battle of Somme on 1st July 1916 and suffered appalling casualties - over 500 killed or wounded out of the 800 who went into action, including 23 out of the 26 officers, among them the commanding officer - Lieutenant Colonel Machell. Despite these losses the Battalion was reinforced and fought in many other battles on the Western Front from late 1916 onwards. Thomas would have lived through all of this, and in April 1917 would have been involved in the Battle of Arras, which claimed the lives of both Albert Stockdale. and his brother Sergeant William Stockdale.

On the 18th November Thomas went “over the top” with his comrades for an attack but did not return with them and was posted as “missing”. His mother Sarah, who had by this time moved to Woodbine House in Patterdale, was notified that he was missing as reporting in the Cumberland Herald  on the 23rd December 1916. The report stated:

“Two years ago he enlisted in the Border Regiment at the early age of 17, and went to France about a year ago, and went through the Big Push (The Somme) without a scratch. Letters from his friends state that he went over the lines on 18th November, and has not been heard of since. Some prisoners were taken that day, so probably he may be amongst them, but up to now no further news of him has been received.”

It wasn’t until February 1917 that Sarah finally received a letter from Thomas confirming that he was alive and well and was indeed a prisoner of war. The letter, dated 28th November 1916, said

“I am a prisoner of war. You need not worry, as I am all right, and we are treated pretty well. I was taken prisoner on the 18th November, and will let you know my address when we get to our destination. Give my love to all. I’ll be home when the war is over.”

He was eventually moved to a POW camp in Stuttgart, Germany, where he did indeed remain until the end of the war.  

After his release from the camp at the end of the war Thomas remained in the army until his final demobilisation on the 7th March 1919.  After the war we believe that Thomas returned to his mother’s house in Patterdale, at least initially. After that we have few details about his life other than knowing that he became a railway signalman. We believe he died around 1977 in Carlisle but would love to find out more information about him so if you have any details please contact us. Neither he nor his brother Henry were listed on the Glenridding Village Hall Roll of Honour despite their family moving to the village in the War.

In terms of the rest of Thomas’ family we have more information as many of them stayed in or near to the Dale. His mother Sarah remarried on the 21st November 1921 to a retired Mason from Motherby, John Hebson. They continued to live at Woodbine House until Sarah’s death at the age of 72 in Patterdale, where she is buried. She left her estate to Thomas and to his brother John, who was a Police Constable. John had married Elsie Brown, daughter of Glenridding blacksmith Joseph Brown, on the 11th October 1926 in Patterdale. By then he was working as a Constable in Burnley and we believe he and Elsie lived the rest of their lives in and around Lancashire. John died in May 1986.

The story of Thomas’ elder brother Henry is told in more detail below. His eldest sister Lizzie Ellen married Edward Alexander Thwaite, a Roadman from Hartsop, on the 5th July 1930. She died in March 1970 aged 83. Sister Ethel married Joseph Hebson on the 5th November 1915 in Mungrisedale. At the time Joseph was also a soldier in the Border Regiment. Ethel died in 1961 at the age of 70.

Thomas’ youngest sister Edith died in Patterdale and was buried there on the 11th October 1923 at the age of just 31. His youngest brother George married Mary Isabella James in Uldale on the 20th December 1933 but after that we have no further information on him.

If you can add any more details to the story of Thomas or his family please contact us.

Private Henry Wilson

3496 - 3/5th Border Regiment and 241260 - 8th and 5th Battalion Border Regiment

Born 22nd April 1884 Inglewood Forest, Penrith. Died 5th August 1962 in Queensland Australia

Son of George Wilson and Sarah (nee Scott) Wilson , latterly of Woodbine House, Patterdale

Brother of Thomas William Wilson

Husband of Ethel Briggs. Father and Grandfather

Henry Wilson was born in April 1884 in Inglewood Forest near Penrith, where his father George was a farmer. George and his wife Sarah (nee Scott) had married in 1886 and at first settled in a cottage on George’s parents farm at Inglewood Forest. Their story and that of Henry’s siblings and early life are tiold in more detail in the story above of Henry’s younger brother Thomas William Wilson. Following the death of his father in 1904 Henry left home and by 1911 was working as a farm servant at Thwaite Hall in Greystoke.

Unlike his younger brother Thomas, Henry didn’t join up as soon as war was declared. It is likely that he was conscripted as part of the 1915 Derby Scheme, eventually enlisted on the 7th March 1916 at the age of 21 years and 10 months. At the time he was working as a farm servant and living with his mother at Troutbeck. He stated on his enlistment papers that he’d like to join the same battalion as his brother Thomas, the 11th Battalion of the Border Regiment, the Lonsdales. In fact he started out with the 3/5th Battalion and after quick basic training at home from March until the 14th June he was shipped to France, presumably to take part in the Somme offensive alongside his brother. He served in France for the rest of 1916 and through 1917 until on the 29th September 1917 he was badly wounded. The Herald reported that he has received “shrapnel wounds in his head, shoulder, side, thigh and knee …(whilst) coming out of the line on 29th September”.

Henry was shipped back to England on the 21st October 1917 and transferred to the Lord Derby War Hospital in Warrington, where he was treated for his wounds until the 17th December, when he was transferred to the Raddon Court Military Hosptial. He was finally discharged in February 1918, and on the 9th February 1918 he returned to Woodbine House to see his mother in Patterdale whilst on 9 days leave. He returned to France and served with the 3rd, 5th and 8th Battalion. He ended his service with the British Army of Occupation in the Rhine, at Cologne, where he remained until he was finally demobbed on the 28th November 1919.

After the war he returned initially to Patterdale, and in 1920 was living with his mother and younger brother John at Woodbine House. On the 18th June 1920 he married Ethel Briggs, and by 1926 they were living at Scatterback, Lazonby. Henry was still suffering from the effects of his wounds and was in receipt of an army pension. On the 1st February 1930 Henry, his wife, and their six young children boarded the SLS Balranald at Liverpool, bound for Sydney Australia. They eventually settled in Queensland, where Henry died on the 5th August 1962. We are grateful to the Wilson family for the information they shared on the ancestry website, which can be seen here.

For more information on Henry’s family please see the information we have on his brother Thomas above. If you can add any more details to the story of Henry or his family please contact us.

Henry’s Medal Index Card (above) and the family’s embarkation entry to Australia below in 1930.

Woodbine House in Patterdale - opposite the White Lion Pub. This photo is likely to have been taken before the war, when it was run as a temperance hotel. We’re unsure whether Sarah Wilson did the same when she moved here in 1916. You can still see the outline of the original doorway shown in this picture opposite the front door of the White Lion Pub today. Most of the rest of the building is obscured by the “modern day” post office and village store.