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Remembered Today:

1/4 Northamptonshire Regiment


Guest Becky21

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I am researching my relative Pte Thomas FANTHOM who enlisted firstly in 1915 with the Warwickshire 1st Batt Regiment 13191 & sent to Egypt. I have evidence that Thomas was in Khartoum in August 1916 & sometime later transferred to 1/4 Batt Northamptonshire Regiment. I understand that this battalion formed part of the East Midlands Brigade in East Anglian Division & retitled as 162nd Brigade, 54th Division & served in Egypt & Palestine.

I have a death certificate which says Thomas 'died of wounds' in Egypt on 25 November 1917 which doesn't really tell me anything. He is buried at Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery. I have his medal card which shows he first entered a theatre of war on 20 August 1915 in Egypt.

I am a novice at this & really get confused with Battalions, Garrisons, Divisions etc.

It is probably a big ask but would I be able to find when Thomas was wounded & what battle he was in at the time of his death. I have searched local papers but found nothing. I have also looked on Long Trails & it is a possibility he could have served in the battles of Gaza but not knowing when he was wounded it is very difficult to know for certain.

My other question is if Thomas had died in hospital, would that have been stated on his death certificate.

Any info. however small would be gratefully appreciated.

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The 1/4th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment only really took casualties on two days during late 1917 - on 2nd November 1917 at the 3rd Battle of Gaza and at a former German colony named Wilhelma on 27th November 1917. Thomas Fanthom's death before the later battle makes it very, very likely that the date of wounding would have been 2 November 1917 at Gaza. Casualties from the battle do seem to have been taken to Alexandria for treatment.

The date of transfer to the Northamptonshire Regiment is a bit difficult to pin down. I think it is likely to have been January 1917, but may have been via the 1st Garrison Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment which was in Egypt at the time. At the moment I cannot figure out if the men moved from the 1st Garrison Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment moved to the Northamptonshire Regiment Garrison battalion or just went straight through to the 1/4th Battalion which was preparing to move north with the rest of the force about to head to the Palestine border. The two options are that they moved to the Garrison Battalion first and then moved as reinforcements after the 2nd Battle of Gaza in April, or that they moved straight on to the 1/4th Battalion. I'm not sure how much sense moving men between two Garrison battalions makes, but their re-numbering with "Regular" numbers (i.e. 5 digit numbers rather than the six digit numbers issued to Territorial battalions in March 1917) suggests that they did at least move through the Northamptons Garrison Battalion if only on paper.

Garrison battalion were battalions, usual made up of men who had been medically graded as "B" rather than "A", whose main duties were in acting as garrisons in towns and forts in the area. In Egypt this would have been in the Suez Canal area until the front line moved forward, and then following the British column as it advanced into Palestine. The 1st Garrison Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment were based in Khartoum during 1916, as far as I can see, though that regiment is not my speciality.

Steve.

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Hi Steve,

Thank you for your detailed & very interesting reply to my query. I appreciate your time in doing so & certainly feel less confused than I did.

I probably will never know the exact circumstances leading up to Thomas's death but at least now you have kindly pinpointed a date for me. I just wish there would have been more information on his death certificate. Thomas must have fought his injuries to last till the 25th. One wonders what those injuries were & how much he suffered through his last days.

Would I be able to get any info, like war diaries from Northants Regiment. I have contacted Kew but they said all WW1 records are now on Ancestry which are very few for Thomas. I now have the thirst for learning more.

Thank you once again

Becky

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