Thomas Fairclough b 8 November 1893

[GNH]

I am researching  a Fairclough family and have been told that Thomas Fairclough served in the Salford Pals/Salford Fusiliers in France until 1919. When he returned home he did not wish to discuss it and the family therefore know very little about his military service.  There are some sketchy stories about him being at Kimmel Park North Wales where he worked with horses and that is about it.  In the 1901 & 1911 census he is with his family in Lower Broughton in Salford.

 

I would be most grateful if anyone could offer some insight and help.

 

Many thanks.  Graham 

[George Rayner]

Thomas Alger Fairclough is on Ancestry with his attestation form showing Scottish Battalion Kings Liverpool Regiment dated 1915. Regimental number being 16226. Also 357322 and 6226 on his MIC

Havent worked out how to do a link yet!

 

George

Edited 19 March , 2019 by George Rayner

[GNH]

Thanks George. I have found him previously.  But don't think this is my man

Cheers.  Graham

[Mark1959]

Have you excluded Sgt Thomas Fairclough 5828 Lancsashire Fusiliers?

Deleted as appears not to be relevant

Edited 19 March , 2019 by Mark1959

[PRC]

With that date of birth he would legally have needed to have been registered with the Civil Authorities in the district where he was born in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1893. Allowing for public holidays it might have stretched to the start of Q1 1894 but unlikely, so appearance in court & fine if they waited that long.

 

There are only two likely births of a Thomas Fairclough in England & Wales in those quarters and the choices are Thomas Fairclough, Manchester Civil Registration District and Thomas William Fairclough, Havant District - both Q4 1893. If we stick with the Manchester birth, his mothers maiden name is Gilbert. The Thomas shown on the 1911 Census of England and Wales was recorded as born Collyhurst, Manchester. He was living with his widower father, Thomas, a housekeeper and four siblings - Richard, (24), Henry, (22), Alice, (21) and James, (14) - all shown as born Collyhurst, Manchester. There are births recorded in the Manchester Civil Registration District for Richard, Henry and James all showing the mothers' maiden name as Gilbert, although strangely nothing at all for Alice Fairclough.

 

The key thing is that your Thomas Fairclough does not appear to be in the Civil Records with any middle name. He may have chosen to give himself one when he enlisted but for now the working assumption is that any Thomas Fairclough with a middle name is likely to be the wrong match.

 

As far as I'm aware, (and I'm definately no expert), the Salford Pals were the 15th and 16th Battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers. That would make sense of the Salford Fusiliers name, and both moved to North West Wales shortly after formation. Both units served in France.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/lancashire-fusiliers/

 

FindMyPast has a free to search record set "The Salford Pals", which they state is drawn from "The Lancashire Fusiliers: The Roll of Honour of the Salford Brigade."

Sadly there are no Fairclough's listed.

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/salford-pals-1914-1918

 

Of course he could have been transferred to another Battalion, or subsequently transferred to another regiment who didn't include details of previous units when preparing medal roll or  by some combination of those two he could been home service only for the duration of the war and only made it to France after the cessation of hostilites. The nearest I could come to a match in the Medal Index Cards held by the National Archive is a Thomas Fairclough 5828 12th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, who ended the war as a Sergeant, The 12th Battalion also initially served in France, arriving there on the 5th September 1915 but then went to Salonika and remained there for much of the war, returning to France in July 1918 where it was merged with the 6th Battalion. The Medal Index Card for Sergeant Fairclough shows he first entered a Theatre of War, France, on the 5th September 1915, which makes it sound like he was with the 12th Battalion throughout. As you make no mention of Salonika seems likely he can be counted out.

 

So apologies, thats more dead ends than anything else. Some kind soul with paid up access to either Ancestry or FindNyPast, or indeed with better knowledge of the units may be able to be more specific.

 

For now the most likely source is likely to be the Absent Voters list for Salford for 1918 & 1919 - see

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/finding-soldiers-through-the-1918-absent-voters-lists/

 

There is a free online source that gives this information -

 

Absent Voter: 1918 North Division, Salford, Lancs.
Thomas Fairclough -
    Qualifying Premises: 61 Earl Street
    Polling District: N.P.
    Description of Service: 431317 Pte., 546 Lab.Co.
    Register: Absent Voters List 1918, Entry 5856

 

May be a co-incidence but there is also a James Fairclough who was recorded as an Absent Voter at the same address

 

Absent Voter: 1918 North Division, Salford, Lancs.
James Fairclough -
    Qualifying Premises: 61 Earl Street
    Polling District: N.P.
    Description of Service: 352895 Pnr., R.E.
    Register: Absent Voters List 1918, Entry 5855

Source: https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Salford/Electors/index.html

 

The other potential source is local newspapers.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Peter

Edited 19 March , 2019 by PRC
Typo

[Mark1959]

Peter wins the day!

Records exist for 352895. NoK is father Thomas living at 28 Derby St. Lower Broughton. The address that is shown in the 1911 census for the correct family. So Thomas was 431317 in the Labour Corps at that time. The records show the 61 Earl St address.

Although James attested on 4/12/15 he was not mobilised until 9/4/18. He did not serve abroad and was discharged in Feb 1919.

No evidence yet found that Thomas served abroad.

Edited 19 March , 2019 by Mark1959

[PRC]

1 hour ago, Mark1959 said:

Peter wins the day!

 

Possibly - but the chickens have yet to hatch, the bookies aren't paying out yet and the rotund diva is merely doing her warm-up exercises :-)

 

There remains the faint chance that the Thomas on the AVL is the father, (he was 47 on the 1911 Census) rather than the man Graham is hunting for. The Electoral Register for both addresses for 1918 might help rule that out. I presume that is probably more likely to be on Ancestry then FindMyPast.

 

I assume next of kin information was given when James originally attested in 1915 so the whole family could have moved by the time the 1918 Electoral Register was prepared.

 

Looks like 546 Company, Labour Corps was Home Service and served in the Western Command. There isn't a Wales Command so would seem likely it included Wales. This may be where the reference to working with horses in North Wales comes from, assuming it is Thomas the son whose details are on the AVL. This would provide an alternative explanation to him being based there with the Salford Pals.

 

A possible understanding as to whether it was father or son and the route his Army Career went so see him serving with the Labour Corps, might be to try to find papers for men with nearby service numbers, but I'll wait for Graham to come back first before I start looking for that particular packet of needles in a haystack!

 

Cheers,

Peter

[Mark1959]

Good point Peter. Never assume! Will add to my list of recent faux pas. 

[GNH]

Peter (PRC) and Mark 1959. Many thanks for your detailed response.  The AVL address of 61 Earl Street is his address given on his 1921 marriage certificate.  The other AVL for James Fairclough is his younger brother.  However as you point out it could relate to his father Thomas born c1864.

 

Because we can find the service record for James 352895 but not Thomas 431317 is it fair to assume his service record would be one of those many lost to fire damage during WW2?

 

Again thank you both for your help

 

Graham

Edited 20 March , 2019 by GNH
typo

[PRC]

5 hours ago, GNH said:

Because we can find the service record for James 352895 but not Thomas 431317 is it fair to assume his service record would be one of those many lost to fire damage during WW2?

 

It would be a very fair assumption but just like whether the right Thomas has been identified, it has to be caveated.

 

Firstly, even before the fire a significant number of the contents had been destroyed, ("weeded") and of what's left it's just as easy that for some pages in a scorched and fire \ water damaged state there is no service number or name left, or it didn't have it in the first place. It may also be that the papers that survived only contain unit and service number for an earlier period of service. And that's of course assuming that all the papers relating to one individual were consolidated in one file. While the enlistment form says it's a criminal offence not to declare previous service, some men didn't and for some who did the previous paperwork may have been misfiled or mis-labelled or just held under a slightly different spelling of the surname.

 

It would have been a massive piece of detective work to got the right pages in the right files as part of the tidy up after the fire. In my personal, subjective experience, about 1 in a hundred surviving service records contain some pages that relate to someone else. Sometimes it's obvious and sometimes it's the inconsistencies that make you realise there has to be papers for more than one individual .And on top of all the there are the errors that crept in when the genealogy sites indexed and scanned the service records.

 

So if I have to give probabilities then for Thomas the son vs Thomas the father it's 90/10

and the chances that records were destroyed by the fire vs survived its 95/5

 

Cheers,

Peter

[GNH]

Peter.  Many thanks for your insight about these records, very useful.  I think I will call a halt to it for the moment.  I have the records for his brother James, that was an unexpected find, so thank you once again.

Graham