THOMAS WALKER 

Thomas's Story.

Birkenhead News  03 February 1917

Cheshire Corporal Accidentally Killed.

Military Funeral at Flaybrick

Mrs. Walker, of 139, Cathcart Street, has suffered the loss of her husband, Corporal T. Walker, of the Cheshire Field Co., R.E., who has been accidentally killed. She was first notified by telegram, but subsequently had two letters from her husband’s superior officers. Corpl. Walker joined the Engineers in November 1914, and had latterly been stationed at Wrentham, Sussex, where he was assisting to bring in floating sea mines. It was whilst engaging in this work that he met his death, for one of the mines exploded on the beach, and a fragment of shell struck his head. Colonel Ford, of the deceased man’s company, writes to the widow :- “I was much distressed to learn of the accidental death of your husband by the explosion of a sea mine at Benacre, and I write to offer you my deepest sympathy in your bereavement.” Major Leith writes :- “I am writing to express my sympathy in your sad bereavement and give you a few details of the accident. You would know that Corpl. Walker was not with us in Wangford but had gone about six miles northward and was attached to the R.W.F. He was assisting one of the companies of the battalion in keeping the work in repair and carrying out the new work. Your husband had gone down to the beach and a sea mine was floating in and exploded on the shore, part of the metal striking your husband on the head. He died in a very few minutes, although everything possible was done for him.”

The late Corpl. Walker was married, and leaves a widow with four young children. Before the war he was employed in the smithy at Messrs. Cammell Laird and Co. Ltd. He was for twenty years in the Volunteers, the photograph we reproduce showing him as a Company Sergeant-Major in the old “Cheshire Field Co.”

THE FUNERAL

The funeral took place on Friday afternoon at Flaybrick Hill Cemetery, where a large number of relatives and friends had congregated. Full military honours were accorded, the coffin being draped with the Union Jack and conveyed to the cemetery on a gun carriage. Fourteen men of the Cheshire Regiment from Bidston Camp, under Sergt. Perrin, formed the firing party. The Rev. Charles Dodge, vicar of St. Peter’s, conducted the service at the graveside.