The great-niece of a soldier who was killed in action just weeks before the end of WWI, joined gas workers paying their respects.
Thomas Thompson was 24 when he was killed as his unit advanced into Belgium on October 21, 1918. He is buried in Esplechin, the town where he died.
Before he enlisted, he worked at Caryl Street gas works, which was a huge production plant close to what is now Brunswick train station. His dad, Robert, was a foreman at the site and a memorial stone was engraved and added to a wall at the site.
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As of today, this site is a much smaller gas pressure management station with only a handful of workers from gas network Cadent ever seeing the memorial. With the blessing of Thomas’s relatives, a decision was taken to move the original memorial to Cadent’s main depot for the area, in Banks Road, Garston.
Here it was combined with another memorial to six workers from the Garston site who died in The Great War (1914-1918) – Samuel Corfe, James Hitchmough, Richard Ireland, Alexander McDonnell, Allan Prophet and John Williams.
A new plaque has been placed to the exterior, public-facing wall of the original location of Thomas’ memorial. On Friday, November 11 at the eleventh hour, the first Armistice Day ceremony took place at the new memorial.
Cadent workers were joined by Janna Welsby, the great-niece of Thomas, and placed wreaths before observing the two-minute silence.
Nick Jerman, Head of Customer Operations, Cadent, said: "We’re very proud to have a history that dates back to the early 1800s here in Liverpool. Thousands of Merseyside gas workers served in both of the world wars – and many of them were killed.
"As a company, we pause ever year to remember that. It was lovely to meet Mrs Welsby and share this moment of reflection and remembrance with her at our new memorial site at our Garston depot."
Born in Everton in 1894 and thought to be living in Arundel Street, Walton, when the war began, Thomas enlisted and joined the Royal Field Artillery. RFA researchers said his unit, D Battery, 276 Brigade, landed in France with the 55 th Division in September 2015 and later relieved 42 nd (East Lancashire) Division on the frontline at Givenchy and Festubert.
The story of Thomas must also be told alongside that of his friend, Alfred Welsby. Three years younger, Alfred lived in Toxteth and – while it’s unlikely he knew Thomas before enlisting – the two men were given consecutive military service numbers, after both joining the Royal Field Artillery.
After the war, Alfred married Thomas’s older sister, Catherine. They had a son, who they called Thomas. Alfred went on to work at Caryl Street gas works and died in Liverpool in 1959.
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