Please post a comment if you know anything about this man. Thankyou.
Sorry if this post is a little untidy yet.
Sgt Thomas Fitzpatrick (Tot - born in 1891) was the second son of Frances and Thomas Fitzpatrick, of Tudhoe Village. He was my Gran's Uncle.
His father Thomas Fitzpatrick Senior was born in Ireland, but came over as a young man with his parents. He worked as Labourer in various jobs - including working as a Mason Labourer for the Salvin Estate.
I know Tot was living with his parents in the year 1901, and also in 1911 when both he and his father were recorded as Labourers.
Military Records from W.W. I
The picture below shows our very smart Tot as a soldier of the Durham Light Infantry. I see quite a resemblance to our Lizzie, his sister, in this photo.
He would've been aged 23 in the year 1914, but I don't know from which year this photo dates. More to be found out from the DLI records there, I should think.
The Durham County Records Office has a great deal of archived material (which can be searched from here) - and I found reference to a T. Fitzpatrick who was the Bugler for the DLI 2nd Battalion "H" Company around 1906. {Our Tot would've been 15 in 1906...too young??}
In the Spennymoor Book of Remembrance, a Sergeant T. Fitzpatrick is in the WW I list of Distinctions with a military medal (we know our Tot returned home safe, so he won't be in the 'Remembered' list) . {See below - by military medal, I should have read the Military Medal.}
His name also appears on the War Memorial for Tudhoe Village. Also a Pte W. Fitzpatrick there, but I'm afraid I have no idea who he was YET. It isn't recorded on the stone in which regiment these soldiers served.
I searched the records held at the National Archives, Kew, for our DLI soldier, Thos Fitzpatrick - see copy below.
(Note that a huge number of records were destroyed by bomb damage in WW II. Some of the records have lots of singed bits, if you view an image of the originals)
This is called the medal card, and is for a Thomas Fitzpatrick of the Durham Light Infantry. He was a Corporal - and then was promoted to a something / Sgt, perhaps Acting Sergeant?. His Regimental number is not very clear - 18170??
On The National Archives index, Thomas Fitz of the DLI is recorded as number 18140.
On the Absent Voters List (for the General Election of 1918) {Thanks to John Grainger for the AVL}, Thomas Fitzpatrick is recorded as having lived in Tudhoe, and his number is clearly written as 18170, of the Seng. 13 Bri. D.L.I. {13th (Service) Battalion - look them up here.}
(William Fitzpatrick, meanwhile was recorded as being from Tudhoe, number 66055 of the 94 Seige Batt., R.G.A.)
Thomas entered the Theatre of War in France in August 1915 (our Tot would have been aged 24 then).
Click on the image to enlarge it: Medal Card, Sgt T. Fitzpatrick.
Details of the service medals are in the section on the bottom left. Also in blue ink (by his name) we see MM, for Military Medal. (Over 135,000 soldiers of the lower ranks have been awarded this medal. Read more about this medal here, or here)
Sgt T. Fitzpatrick (18170, D.L.I.) is listed in this page from the London Gazette, 1916, as one of many receiving the Military Medal for bravery . At the beginning of the list it says:-
"War Office, 23rd August, 1916.
His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to award the Military Medal for bravery in the field to the undermentioned Non-commissioned Officers and Men: —"
The ever helpful John has passed on this clipping from local press of the 4th August 1916 which gives a little more detail:
Reports of Sgt Fitzpatrick of Tudhoe, serving with 13th (Service) Battalion, DLI has been awarded the Military Medal for ‘repairing broken and laying new wire frequently under heavy fire between 7 – 10 July’.
It was lovely to hear from Hilary that her grandmother (Nance), "did not make too much of a fuss about it." (the MM) Best not let him get too big for his boots, eh?! In fact, I'm sure all involved were glad to be able to put it behind them.
On the other hand, another grandaughter of his, Jane, remembers a much stronger reaction from Nance. This time it was a dislike of the lovely photo you see at the top of this post (Tot in his DLI uniform) - it was "a large photo in quite an ornate frame. Gran (Nance) didn't like it and it had pride of place in the ..........shed!"
"When they moved from Hinckley, she threw it out." Goodness me! Glad to have been able to help restore the photograph to Jane & her family.
Which DLI Battalion?
Sadly the medals card doesn't tell me which Battalion he was in, otherwise I could have found out more about his war service. (e.g. the 6th Battalion of DLI is described in this book, and there are several Battalion War Diaries at the National Archives, or one for the 18th Battalion which is available to read online here.)
However, from the recorded date of entry to France (25.8.1915), we can surmise (using the info on this Wiki page) that this gent was part of the 12th or 13th regiment of the DLI, which was part of the 23rd Division. Read more about how busy they were on this section of an excellent WW I history site - www.1914-1918.net - from which we learn that the 12th also served in Italy before returning home.
{Later received info that Tot was in the 13th - and so now we know that they did not go to Italy.}
The entry on the right "Cl. Z" means that Tot was not demobilised immediately at the armistice, but rather passed into the Z class of soldiers who were retained till March 1920... ready just in case war erupted again. (See this page of advice about interpreting medal cards - class Z is explained near the bottom of the page.)
Civilian Life.
When not in the army, I do know that Tot earned his living (before WW I) as a Labourer, as did his father. In the 1911 census, he was living with his parents, and working as a Screen Man at the colliery (above ground). We know that Tot married Annie (Nance) Campbell, of Wolsingham (possibly from Weardale St.), in 1921. Nance was a little younger than Tot, born in 1900.
Here's a photo of their children, with Nance (standing):
One of their descendants, Jane, tells us;
"Tot and Nance went to live in the Midlands (Elmsthorpe) in the Depression and had a small-holding there. Tot used to tell the tale of taking a goat with them and it ate all the posters at the railway station! However, he also told stories about our great, great, great, great, great grandad who was a leprechaun and about three-legged sheep so never quite sure what to believe.
He had a wicked sense of humour."
They later returned to Co. Durham.
Thomas died 29th Nov 1965, aged 73.
He & his wife Nance had 2 children & 8 grandchildren.
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