| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Thomas Medd Stephenson was born in Beverley the 26 Jul 1890, the son of William Stephenson and Ada Medd , both of Beverley. William was a bricklayer and builder. Thomas is recorded in the 1911 census as a blacksmith. By the time war broke out he was working for the North Eastern Railway as a blacksmith; in the 1939 Register he is recorded as working in Hull for the London and North Eastern Railway Company as “a carriage and wagon railway clock blacksmith”, presumably undertaking repairs of rolling stock.
Thomas enlisted on 29 Nov 1916 and joined the Royal Engineers Railway Operating Division based at Longmoor in Hampshire. He went to France in 1917. The Railway Operating Companies ran the series of light railways that had been built by RE Railway Construction Companies and were used to bring supplies of food and munitions to dumps near the frontlines from supply depots far to the rear. On 21 Mar 1918 the Germans launched “Operation Michael”, it would seem Thomas was switched to the infantry, joining the 18th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. On 26 Mar 1918 Thomas was captured in the vicinity of Bapaume on the Somme. A report in the Beverley Guardian of 28 Dec 1918 noted that “he had been working behind the (German) lines” possibly as forced labour. It also noted his complaints of ill treatment which caused “a wound in his side”. He arrived home on 20 Dec 1918 and later assessment of his health led him to be considered unfit for further service and invalided out of the army. He was awarded the Silver Badge in addition to the War and Victory Medals.
Whilst on leave, on 3 Feb 1918, Thomas married Amy Fuller at Beverley Minster, their daughter, Kathleen, was born in 1920. They later lived in the Anlaby Park area of Hull. Thomas died in Nov 1984, aged 94, and was buried at Queensgate Cemetry on 22 Nov 1984. Amy died in 1970.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |