Thomas's Story.
Birkenhead News 26 June 1915Local Engineer Killed.
PORT SUNLIGHT JOINER.
Mrs. Harthen of 104, Vittoria Street, has received a letter from Compy. Sergt-Major J. Quigley, of the Cheshire Field Company, Royal Engineers, stating that her husband, Corporal Thomas Harthen, has ben killed in action. The letter says :- “It is with deep regret and sympathy that I write you these few lines …. It is very hard I know, but it is the penalty that a great many of our dear ones at home must pay before this awful war can terminate. Your husband met his sad death while bravely doing his duty in the line just outside Ypres on the 14th inst. It may console you to know that his death was instantaneous. The bullet caught him in the throat and passed through his head, and he died without a word. He was a splendid fellow, both as a comrade and an N.C.O., and was highly esteemed by his officers and comrades.”
Corporal Harthen was a foreman joiner at Port Sunlight, and received his education at Holy Trinity School. He was 32 years of age, joined the Engineers in September, and went to France in December.
Thomas Harthen’s photograph and newspaper article by Chris Booth.