Thomas William's Story.
Thomas William Field was born on 31 May 1883 at Edgar Green, Pendleton, Manchester, he was educated at Pendleton Higher Grade School. He moved to Lymm when he married Ada Leigh, 21 December 1905 at the parish church. Ada was the second youngest daughter of Mr Harry and Mrs Hannah Leigh, Pepper Street, Lymm.
Thomas was an engineer and had a wide experience. He served his apprentice as a fitter with Messrs. George Wragge and Co., Laundry Engineers in Salford, Manchester. He was later appointed departmental foreman at Sanitaries Limited, Pendleton, Manchester, and spent nine years in the manufacture of patents conducive to improving sanitation. Subsequently he also worked at Messrs. Pooleys in Birmingham and Messrs. Fletcher, Russell at Pendleton. The latter firm later moved to Warrington. In 1911 the family were living in Pendleton, at this time Thomas and Ada had two children Ada age 4 and Daisy, 2.
For 20 years he was a member of the Salford Volunteers and Territorial's, with whom he saw active service in South Africa during 1901 and 1902, gaining a Queen's Medal with five clasps. During the First World War he served with the 1/7th Lancashire Fusiliers, obtaining the rank of Quartermaster Sergeant, in Egypt, Gallipoli, Greece and the Mediterranean. His medal awards were. The Distinguished Conduct Medal, the South African Medal, the Territorial Efficiency (12 years) Medal, Egypt special award (42nd Division), General Service Medal, and the First Class (Gold) Order of St. George of Russia.
In February 1916, while on route to Malta, he wrote to Ada telling her about his wounds.
“You will know by now that I have had 4 shrapnel wounds from a Turkish shell; one was in my ankle, one in my hip, one in my thumb and one in my ribs, all on the left-hand side. All except the one in my hip bone are now healed up, and I write you this note sat up in my cot on the high seas close to Malta. I was in a charge in Turkey with my boys and the Turks met us and we had a terrible fight. But we got their trenches off them and then they cut us off, and I was 3 days and three nights fighting all the time until we were relieved. I am mentioned in despatches.”
Thomas was Mentioned in Despatches, (MID) London Gazette 28 January 1916. He was also awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), for his actions, London Gazette 11 March 1916, the citation states.
For conspicuous gallantry on the 7th of August 1915, on the Gallipoli peninsula. The Turks having recaptured a portion of a trench, Sergeant Field, with three other men, with great bravery, held on to the centre of the position until a counterattack had been organised, which drove the enemy out. He was wounded in four places and of the others two were killed and one wounded.
On 7 August 1916 he was discharged from the army being no longer physically fit to serve. He also spent some time at Heaton Park convalescent hospital, near Manchester suffering from a nervous breakdown. With his experience in engineering and manufacturing in 1918 he became managing director of the T. W. Field Engineering Company Limited, Manchester, and obtained Patent 1057 relative to improving the manufacture of slip rings for Bosch magnetos. These he manufactured for the government (Air and Transport Department) and for the Cunard Line (Aintree). In the same year he was appointed to the engineering staff of the ministry of munitions, Manchester section, accepting the contract on condition that he should be released on the signing of the Armistice.
In January 1919 he received from the ministry of munitions, Whitehall, the following letter.
Since its creation in 1915 the ministry of munitions was called upon to supply the fighting services with war material on an unprecedented scale, and in every class of supply the demand was not only met, but in many cases anticipated. I feel that this great achievement would not have been possible without the skilful and ungrudging efforts of every member of the headquarters staff of the ministry, and on the occasion of your relinquishing your work in the department, I desire to convey to you personally, sincere thanks for your service you have rendered.
In February of the same year Thomas opened the Field Appliance Works, Canal Bridge, Lymm, for the manufacturer of articles in metal for which he applied for the patents. These included automatic water fountains and grit boxes and galvanised dry mash hoppers for poultry. Also, in 1919 Thomas stood as an independent candidate in the Lymm Council elections. He did not want to be associated with any party preferring to remain free to act as his conscience directed. He supported the community of Lymm, he was a member of the colleague’s association of engineers, the Lymm food control committee and the Lymm War Memorial committee. There were two candidates. Henry Appleton, Ash Cottage, Rush Green, Lymm and Thomas who was listed at the time living at Fern Lea. Statham Avenue, Lymm. Voting at this time was limited to certain people, only 300 were eligible to vote, just under two-thirds did. The result was
Henry Appleton (Labour Party) 112
Thomas William Field (Independent) 75
The 1921 census shows that Thomas William, age 38, was Managing Director of Fields Poultry Appliances Ltd., in Lymm. His wife Ada was 41, they had four children. Ada Field, age 14, Daisy Field 12, May Field 9 and Thomas William Field 4. The 1939 register infers they had more children, Winifred Field born 25 April 1922 and Norman Field born 4 April 1924.
Thomas passed away 18 April 1940 age 56, he is buried at St. Mary the Virgin Churchyard, Lymm.