| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Thomas Gordon Allen was a Lieutenant in the 5th (Cyclist) Battalion, stationed in the Withernsea area to defend the coastal area from Spurn Head to Bridlington. No detailed service record has been found, but notes taken from the East Yorkshire Regiment publication SNAPPER published in 1925 states that in Jun 1918 he was transferred into the 1st Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment serving in France, and was given command of Company ‘D’, although he would assume the rank of Acting Captain this was never formally acknowledged in the records. He landed in France on 10 Jun 1918 and was killed in action on 26 Aug 1918. It was reported in the Beverley Guardian, 14 Sep 1918, that a brother officer writing to his widow, said “Your husband met his death while leading his men into action in one of the finest feats of war.” Unfortunately, no specific details of the event have been found.
He was buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval alongside sixteen other men from the 1st Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment who died on that day. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Thomas Gordon was born in 1889, the youngest son of Thomas Webster Allen, a timber merchant of North Ferriby, and his wife Emily; his employment was associated with the family business. He married Edwina Watts, who was born in Leconfield when her father was Rector of that parish. Iin 1917 Edwina’s father was Rector of Leven parish where they were married on 28 Apr: Their daughter, Diana June Imelda Allen, was born in 1918 and was baptised in Leven church in July of that year.
A plaque in Thomas Gordon’s memory was erected in the church at Leven, near Beverley, and, as a member of the Hull and East Riding Rugby Union Football Club, he is listed in the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union “In Memoriam” 1914-1919.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers
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