A private ceremony was held at Shildon War Memorial last Saturday to officially commemorate the addition of Sapper Thomas William Emmerson to the names listed there, 109 years after his death in Meaulte on 14 September 1915, having spent just 91 days in the army.
Thomas was 29 years old and left behind a wife and three children.
Extensive research over the past two and a half years on behalf of the family by the North East War Memorial Project, in collaboration with Shildon Town Council, allowed Thomas’s life and his time in service to come to light.
Thomas William Emmerson was born on the 24 April 1886, at Coundon Grange to Frederick and Hilda Emmerson.
He was a miner, employed at the Shildon Lodge Colliery. He married Elizabeth Ann Mills on 15 July 1905 at the Auckland Register Office. The couple had three children; Jane Annie, Doris and Gladys.
By 1911, they were residing at 12 Hudson Street, Shildon, prior to which they had lived at 10 Paddy’s Row, Eldon Lane.
Thomas was enlisted at London on 16 June 1915. He was attested as a Tunneller’s Mate at 2s 2d a day rate. The rank was Sapper as he already had experience due to his trade as a miner. His service number was 102789.
Thomas was then sent to St Mary’s Barracks at Chatham, where he was kitted out and got ready for embarkation.
There were two types of tunnellers, the face-men, those who did the actual clay kicking and timbering, and the secondary group known as the ‘mates’ (also called ‘timbersman’ ‘baggers’ or ‘runners-out’), responsible for assisting in timbering the galleries, bagging the spoil and getting it out of the tunnel. However, they all took turns at clay kicking. Face men received 6s a day, and a mate 2s 2d a day. An average infantry man was receiving about 1s 6d a day.
Thomas travelled to France to the Royal Engineers Base at Rouen on 22 June 1915, where the Company started to be formed together.
The Company officially existed from 10 July 1915 and was given the task of relieving the French miners on the Somme.
On 12 August 1915, the company was ordered to Meaulte where they took over a chaotic system from the French, where the bottom of the trenches were two to three deep with dead rotting French bodies, and the trench parapet was far too low.
Thomas William Emmerson was the only fatal casualty from the 178th Tunnelling Company on 14 September 1915.
He was killed by a German hand mortar exploding in an approach gallery leading to the trench. Three other ranks were wounded.
The private ceremony, at Shildon War Memorial, Main Street, was attended by Shildon Town Mayor, Cllr Shirley Quinn, representatives of the Royal Engineers, the police, the RBL and family members.
Thomas’s widow, Elizabeth, remarried to Robert William Hutchinson in 1917 and bore two more children, Irene and James.
Robert also served in WWI in the 3rd Battalion Durham Light Infantry from 6 February 1915 and was discharged in 1919 after being wounded.
Elizabeth died in 1939.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
I’m Thomas Great Grandson, the one in your photo with the blue coat.
It took me 7 years of research to locate him and I was proud to visit his grave last December.