Thomas Everard MGC - Seeking Information

[FROGSMILE]

Brilliant work by everyone if I may applaud you, it just needs putting into language and context (explanation of Derby Scheme and Training Reserve, etc.) that Shelley can understand, as she is someone new to all this circa WW1 military talk.  We enthusiasts sometimes forget that and talk in abbreviations, contemporary phrases and acronyms!

 

I’m interested that he enlisted so many times early on and on each occasion was fairly quickly rejected.  As someone who’s had to discharge several soldiers under the category that still exists, of “unlikely to make a satisfactory soldier”, and reading between the lines, I think that he was either, handicapped in some minor way, or extremely awkward physically (a slow developer).  As someone pointed out, early in the war there was less patience with such men when pre-war standards prevailed.  Later in the war there was more of an attitude that every man was needed, that square holes merely needed square pegs, and that more patience should be applied during training.  It’s especially intriguing that he apparently applied for a pension after one of the earlier discharges, which does suggest that he perhaps suffered some injury during one of his initial periods of training.  

Edited 3 February , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[shelleyJE]

14 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

Brilliant work by everyone if I may applaud you, it just needs putting into language and context (explanation of Derby Scheme and Training Reserve, etc.) that Shelley can understand, as she is someone new to all this circa WW1 military talk.  We enthusiasts sometimes forget that and talk in abbreviations, contemporary phrases and acronyms!

 

I’m interested that he enlisted so many times early and each time was fairly quickly rejected.  As someone who’s had to discharge several soldiers under the category that still exists, of “unlikely to make a satisfactory soldier”, and reading between the lines, I think that he was either, handicapped in some minor way, or extremely awkward physically (a slow developer).  As someone pointed out, early in the war there was less patience with such men when pre-war standards prevailed.  Later in the war there was more of an attitude that every man was needed, that square holes merely needed square pegs, and that more patience should be applied during training.  It’s especially intriguing that he apparently applied for a pension after one of the earlier discharges, which does suggest that he perhaps suffered some injury during one of his initial periods of training.  

Thankyou for your reply, you are correct I am new and wanting to learn, I just keep thinking if he did have a handicap or minor disability why was this not mentioned on the first enlistment, and then like you say the application for the pension after the 'deformed hand discharge' I wish family members were alive to answer questions but sadly that is not so. Either way I am very proud of him, he lived in the heart of the pottery town Longton, working in horrendous conditions both pottery factories and later on mining, living in the poorest housing of its time, suffered the deaths of children including one who drowned in a wash tub, eventually got to fight in the war after rejection (I assume as he was posted to France and Basra) lost brother at 18, half brother perished in the Somme..............., Sorry i'm going on I just want to give him a bloody big hug, I wanted to honour his memory and everything he has been through by finding out as much as I could. Thankyou again everyone for your time, advice and help.    

Edited 3 February , 2021 by shelleyJE

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, shelleyJE said:

Thankyou for your reply, you are correct I am new and wanting to learn, I just keep thinking if he did have a handicap or minor disability why was this not mentioned on the first enlistment, and then like you say the application for the pension after the 'deformed hand discharge' I wish family members were alive to answer questions but sadly that is not so. Either way I am very proud of him, he lived in the heart of the pottery town Longton, working in horrendous conditions both pottery factories and later on mining, living in the poorest housing of its time, suffered the deaths of children including one who drowned in a wash tub, eventually got to fight in the war after rejection (I assume as he was posted to France and Basra) lost brother at 18, half brother perished in the Somme..............., Sorry i'm going on I just want to give him a bloody big hug, I wanted to honour his memory and everything he has been through by finding out as much as I could. Thankyou again everyone for your time, advice and help.    

I totally understand your feelings and sympathy for him.  Life back then was extremely tough and there was no NHS or social support network of the sort taken for granted now.  Life was cheap and a bit of bad luck could transform everything in an individual’s life.  He seems to have persevered with his efforts to enlist and I think he must have suffered some physical problem, albeit unclear.  A birth handicap seems less likely given that he seemingly attempted to gain a disability pension from the Army.

 

You are quite correct that he deployed to the 1917 Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force (MEF): 

 

1.http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/the-campaign-in-mesopotamia/

 

2.https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/mesopotamia-campaign

This usually involved going to the transit port of Marseilles by train or ship, and then another ship across to Basra (Basrah), a principal gateway port in Iraq that has been associated with Britain for a long time.  It was used by the British Army again during WW2 and I spent a short period there during the First Gulf War in 1991.  On all three occasions it was the logistics hub for British Forces.  Many British soldiers have tramped its streets and embarked on its waterways.

 

He appears to have served with the MEF from 9th November 1917 until Boxing Day 1918, when he embarked for home.  It must have been an enormous adventure for him and I suspect that he never left the U.K. ever again.  He would have remembered it always I’m sure.  You might find this account of a man who did not come back interesting: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/history/ww1-soldier-pleaded-captors-send-331199.amp

Edited 3 February , 2021 by FROGSMILE