| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Thomas Southwick was born in Beverley the 5 Jul 1881, the son of Ebenezer Southwick and his wife Elizabeth, his mother was from Bishop Burton whilst Ebenezer was from Beverley. They belonged to the Weslyan Methodist Church. The family lived at Sparkmill Lane and later at 15 Wednesday Market. Ebenezer was a tanner’s labourer and Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps.Thomas was unmarried.
Thomas joined the Seaforth Highlanders as a private probably in 1916 at the relatively old age of 35. It is not known where he served but at some point he must have received serious wounds as he ended the war in the Labour Corps where those men unfit for frontline service yet not so seriously incapacitated as to be discharged were sent to undertake a variety of labour tasks. Thomas was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
Thomas returned to Beverley and by 1939 he was assisting his nephew, Philip Train, a coal merchant and cowkeeper, in Hornsea. His widowed sister, Elizabeth, born in 1879, lived with them at Southgate, Hornsea. Thomas died at the age of 63 on 8 Dec 1944. He is buried at St Martin’s Cemetery, Beverley.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |