Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

Thomas Stevenson - Private 21966

This page is dedicated to the memory of Thomas Stevenson who died on 16th September 1916.

Thomas Stevenson died on 16th September 1916 in France. He was unfortunately one of the casualties amongst the millions of men who lost their lives in World War 1. It seemed sad for him to have died and all but these bare facts remembered, so I've tried to find out at least a little about his life before his untimely death aged just 35.

Thomas Stevenson was born on 14th November 1880 at 1 Duffin's Row, Chapel Street in the Radford area of Nottingham. He was the 2nd of 8 children of Herbert Stevenson and his wife Eliza Ann Brown. In 1881 the family were still living in Duffin's Row with as Thomas' father Herbert working as a labourer or carter. By 1891 the family were living at in New Yard off Chapel Street. The whole family seem to have been wrongly put down as Brown rather than Stevenson, but I'm pretty sure it's them. At this point there were 7 children at home; Herbert was working as a carter still and Thomas was at school.

Sadly in 1897 Thomas' father Herbert died of enteric fever/meningitis aged just 40. Eliza was left with a young family to raise all alone. She married again in 1899 to John Arnold and in 1901 she is living with John and 7 of her 8 children (plus a son by John) in Moorgate Street. But Thomas Stevenson is not with them. I have searched, but have so far been unable to find him in the 1901 census. He would have been about 20 by then, so could have been living and working anywhere.

Thomas Stevenson married Ada Ellen Bignall in April 1908 in Radford. He was said to be a labourer living in Moorgate Street at the time of his marriage. His sister Clara Stevenson was one of the witnesses. The couple's only known child, also Thomas Stevenson, was born the following year. By 1911 the family were back living in Chapel Street and Thomas was described as a joiner's labourer.

War broke out in the summer of 1914, when Thomas would have been 33 years old. Unfortunately many of the WW1 service records were destroyed in a bombing raid in WW2 and Thomas' was one of those that didn't survive. So I don't know when exactly he enlisted, but it was likely to be fairly early on in the war. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website confirms that he was a Private in the 2nd Battalion (Glasgow Highlands) of the Notts & Derby Regiment (Sherwood Foresters) and that his service number was 21966. I can't reproduce his CWGC record, but to see his page please click here. There seems to be some discrepancies over what day Thomas actually died; the CWGC indicates it was 16th September 1916, but the newspaper reports suggest it was 13th September.

You can now look at the Medal Roll cards from the first world war online. These show a soldier's name, rank and what medals they were entitled to. Due to copyright issues, I don't think I can reproduce the image of the medal card, so instead I've transcribed it:

His medal card suggests he would have been entitled to 3 medals. The British Medal was awarded to servicemen who served in a theatre of war between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918. The Victory Medal (Allied Victory Medal) was awarded for service in any operational theatre over the same time frame. The Star was awarded to all those who served in any theatre of war against Germany between 5th August 1914 and 31st December 1915. The card also confirms that he was sent to France on 18th March 1915.

Although Thomas' service records haven't survived, you can now look online at the War Diaries for a given Regiment. War Diaries were kept as a daily record of operations, intelligence reports and anything else that was going on for a given battalion. So I've downloaded the War Diary for the 2nd Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters. Since there is debate as to which day he died, I've transcribed from 13th to 16th September 1916 below.

So the events described above, were part of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, part of the Battle of the Somme, one of the deadliest periods in the war. Although the war diary lists the officers who were killed or missing, it doesn't name the other ranks. But in the period surrounding Thomas' death (12th to 19th September) 421 other ranks were listed as missing, presumed killed or captured. Thomas must have been one of these. His last days must have been spent under constant threat of shelling and machine gun fire.

Thomas' death was reported in the local newspapers in October 1916, with messages from both his wife and son and his mother and siblings. Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Image reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

His death was reported again in November 1916, this time with a photograph; Thomas is the one on the right. Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Image reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

Thomas was buried at Thiepval Cemetery in France. He is also commemorated on the Radford Christ Church School Memorial. He is possibly also listed on John Player's & Sons Great War Memorial in Radford, one of the Saw Mills team. I'm just not 100% sure this is him. 5 of Thomas' cousins were also killed during the war, including 4 brothers from one family. The Stevenson family paid a heavy price in WW1.

The final piece of documentation I could find for Thomas was the Army Register of Soldiers' Effects. This document showed that at the time of his death he had £2.19s.4d plus £7.10s war gratuity, which his widow Ada received. Not much to show for the ultimate sacrifice.

So far I've only managed to find the blurry photograph of Thomas from the newspaper; it would be lovely to be able to add at better one to complete his story. So if anyone has a photo of Thomas Stevenson, please do get in touch. E-mail: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

In researching Thomas' life, several sites have been invaluable, so I've included links to some of them here.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

The National Archives at Kew:

The British Newspaper Archive:

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

Nicky Rowberry 2025

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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry