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SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY
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"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
386 Private THOMAS WOOD.
4th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment.
Killed in action, aged 25, on the 3rd May 1915.
Born and enlisted at Skelton in Cleveland.
Son of Thomas and Christiana Wood of 137 High St, Skelton, N Yorkshire.
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Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.
Pte Wood, age 24, is thought to be the man standing Left on the back row on this photograph taken at the Annual Camp at Redcar,
N Yorks, in August 1913. [Second from right back is Fred Appleton]. The message Tom sent at the time is below.
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FAMILY
1901. Thomas, aged 11, was living at 137 High St, one of the Estate Houses for Home Farm. He had been born in Skelton
His father, Thomas, age 46, was a Shepherd. He had been born in Borrowby, N Yorks.
His mother, Christiana, age 42, had been born in Helperby, Yorks.
Thomas had 2 brothers - William, 18 and Edward age 1.
And 4 sisters, Elizabeth, 13, Mary 9, Minnie 6, and Amy 4, all born in Skelton
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WAR SITUATION:-
Thomas was a Volunteer for the Territorial Force before the War.
The 4th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment were part of the 150th Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division.
They went to France on the 18th April 1915 and were called into action 4 days later.
The Division fought in the Battle of St Julien 24th April to the 4th May in the Second Battle of Ypres, when the Germans used Gas for the first time.
Thomas Wood was killed in action at this time and was among the first casualties, suffered by the 4th Battalion.
Full details based on the Battalion War Diary can be read by clicking here.
MEMORIAL:-
Thomas was very likely given a proper burial, but many of these early graves at Ypres were destroyed by subsequent fighting and shelling. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate, which bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known.
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