Thomas Edward Rothwell (1893-1917)
Trimdon Grange born, fought with 15th DLI, killed in action at Battle of Arras
Thomas Edward Rothwell died on 3 May 1917, one of ten “other ranks” of the 15th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) to die that day; another 28 were reported missing and 68 wounded, attacking the Hindenberg Line near Arras.
Thomas was born in Trimdon Grange in July 1893. His mother, Maria, had moved to the northeast with her parents from Burnley and she met and married a local man. But by 1901, Maria and her two sons (Thomas was the elder) had returned to Burnley to live with her widowed mother. Maria found work in the mills as a weaver to support her family.
Details of Thomas’s war service are missing but we know he gave his home address as Stockton-On-Tees in 1917 and that he enlisted as a private in the 15th Battalion, DLI.
He was with his battalion when it attacked at 3.45 am on 7 May 1917, along the “Boche trenches” of the Hindenberg Line, near Arras in Northern France. German resistance was fierce and 14 separate attacks were made but the Durham men were unable to pass the German block. Heavy shelling continued throughout the day and it was not until 8pm that evening that the battalion was relieved. By that time, one officer was dead, six had been wounded and one was missing in action. This was in addition to the 106 other ranks who were killed/missing/ or injured in action; making a total of 114 men and their families affected by just one action by one battalion on that day. Thomas was listed amongst the dead.
In his will, he left £110 15 shillings to his uncle, Clarence Henry Mortimer, a workhouse labour master in Stockton.
Thomas Rothwell is honoured on the Memorial at Arras and in the Book of Remembrance in St Thomas Church, Stockton.
Civil Parish: Stockton on Tees
Birth date: 1893
Death date: 07-Apr-1917
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 31 Bread Street, Burnley, Lancs (ecclesiastical parish of Habergham Eaves Holy Trinity) (1901 census)
7 Providence Terrace, Stockton-on Tees (1917 Will)
Family: Mother: Maria Rothwell (nee Lockett) (1872)
Brother: Ernest Rothwell (b 1897)
Grandmother: Catherine Lockett (b 1849 in Burnley)
Military service:
Service number 201372
Private
15th Battalion, DLI
Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal
Memorial(s): Arras Memorial
Book of Remembrance in St Thomas Church, Stockton
Gender: Male
Contributed by Kelloe Visitor, Trimdon Station
