Pte Thomas Ramsay 5 Northumberland Fus KiA 29.1.16

[christine liava'a]

Remembering Today:

Pte Thomas RAMSAY, 5/1726 5 Bn, Northumberland Fusiliers, who died aged 19 on 29.01.16. Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Belgium

Name: RAMSAY

Initials: T J

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: Northumberland Fusiliers

Unit Text: "A" Coy. 5th Bn.

Age: 19

Date of Death: 29/01/1916

Service No: 5/1726

Additional information: Son of William Gifford Ramsay and Isabella Armour Ramsay. Native of Shetland Isles.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: I. J. 22.

Cemetery: RAILWAY DUGOUTS BURIAL GROUND

The commune of Zillebeke contains many Commonwealth cemeteries as the front line trenches ran through it during the greater part of the First World War. Railway Dugouts Cemetery is two kilometres west of Zillebeke village, where the railway runs on an embankment overlooking a small farmstead known to the troops as Transport Farm.

The site of the cemetery was screened by slightly rising ground to the east, and burials began there in April 1915. They were continued until the Armistice, especially in 1916 and 1917, when advanced dressing stations were placed in the dugouts and the farm. They were made in small groups, without any definite arrangement; and in the summer of 1917 a considerable number were obliterated by shell fire before they could be marked.

The names "Railway Dugouts" and "Transport Farm" were both used for the cemetery. At the time of the Armistice, more than 1,700 graves in the cemetery were known and marked. Other graves were then brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries in the vicinity, and a number of the known graves destroyed by artillery fire were specially commemorated. The latter were mainly in the present Plots IV and VII.

The cemetery now contains 2,459 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 430 of the burials are unidentified and 261 casualties are represented by special memorials. Other special memorials record the names of 72 casualties buried in Valley Cottages and Transport Farm Annexe Cemeteries whose graves were destroyed in later fighting. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

No. of Identified Casualties: 2032

[Guest Pete Wood]

Name: RAMSAY

Initials: T J

Name: Thomas

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: Northumberland Fusiliers

Unit Text: "A" Coy. 5th Bn.

Age: 19

Date of Death: 29/01/1916

Service No: 5/1726

Additional information: Son of William Gifford Ramsay and Isabella Armour Ramsay. Native of Shetland Isles.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: I. J. 22.

Cemetery: RAILWAY DUGOUTS BURIAL GROUND

SDGW says Killed in Action

Born Jamieson, North Shields

Enlisted Walker-on-Tyne

When I first saw the CWGC register details, I thought we might be in with a good chance of finding out more about this man. His next of kin, his father, is listed as living in the Shetland Isles - a small island, with a close knit community, who live closer to Scandinavia than to Scotland.

I thought it was a bit strange that our man had joined the Northumberland Fusiliers, instead of a Scottish regiment, but then I looked at SDGW and realised that his father had moved to the Shetland Isles - and that Thomas was born in the North East of England which is why he joined a 'Geordie' regiment.

I have a friend who works for the Shetland Times, so I'll send off an email in the hope of finding out a little more. But I am fairly sure that if Thomas lived on the Isles, he and his father would most likely have been employed in the fishing industry.

It is interesting that CWGC says his initials are 'TJ' yet SDGW gives only Thomas as his name.....

[Guest Pete Wood]

Well that was easy - and apt. His name was Thomas Jamieson Ramsay, born in the March quarter of 1897 in the district of Tynemouth.

[Guest Tina Weinling]

Pvt. Thomas Jamieson Ramsay 1897-1916.

Thomas was the youngest son of William Gifford Ramsay, A native of Shetland, and Isabella Armour Ramsay.

William Gifford (Tom's father) was a master mariner,who moved down to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to work in the Swann Hunter Shipyards where he became a shipwright and launch man.

Thomas was born in Newcastle-Upon -Tyne and when he left school, he took an apprenticeship also in the Swann Hunter shipyards working along with his father and older brother.

Tom either joined up at the outbreak of the first world war,or was conscripted.

He joined the Northumberland Fusiliers "A" company 5th Battalion (Territorial).

Thomas was killed in action January 29th 1916 Flanders, Belgium.

He is buried in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm).The cemetary is situated 2 kilometres from the village of Zillebeke.

[Graham Stewart]

Pvt. Thomas Jamieson Ramsay 1897-1916.

Thomas was the youngest son of William Gifford Ramsay, A native of Shetland, and Isabella Armour Ramsay.

William Gifford (Tom's father) was a master mariner,who moved down to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to work in the Swann Hunter Shipyards where he became a shipwright and launch man.

Thomas was born in Newcastle-Upon -Tyne and when he left school, he took an apprenticeship also in the Swann Hunter shipyards working along with his father and older brother.

Tom either joined up at the outbreak of the first world war,or was conscripted.

He joined the Northumberland Fusiliers "A" company 5th Battalion (Territorial).

Thomas was killed in action January 29th 1916 Flanders, Belgium.

He is buried in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm).The cemetary is situated 2 kilometres from the village of Zillebeke.

Was he definately born in Newcastle, as all my sources show born - North Shields? He actually enlisted into the 5th Bn, N.F. in March 1913 and had served nearly eighteen months before the outbreak of the War and he is also known to have been 'gassed' in August 1915.