Person

Thomas was born in March 1876 in Hunwick and baptised the following month. The son of Wolsingham-born coke drawer Robert Iley and his wife, Elizabeth Iley nee Branford. Thomas had eight siblings, the youngest being William who was born two years before his father died.

In 1896 Thomas Iley married Roseanna Breed in Tynemouth, Northumberland and, by 1903, they were both in North America. Their first son, Thomas, was born in 1903 in the USA, followed by Rose in Canada in 1906, Robert in the USA in 1908 and, finally, Alice in Alberta, Canada in 1915. Living with his sister Mary in Calgary, Alberta in 1906, Thomas applied for a Homestead Grant in 1910. By the time of the 1916 census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, although Thomas was at camp in England having joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), the family were living and working on the land in Edmonton, Alberta.

Thomas had enlisted at Valcartier, Quebec on 22 September 1914. He became Private 18511 of the 9th Battalion, which sailed for England on 3 October, and was then based in camp on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. In January 1915 Thomas was chopping wood with an axe and accidentally cut the tendons of the index and middle fingers of his right hand and was out of action until mid-March. On 7 August 1915, he went absent and was not apprehended until 21 February 1916. Charged with desertion, he was court martialled and sentenced to 84 days detention, which was shortened to 56 days.

Due to problems with his hand, and being overage, Thomas was attached to the Canadian Army Medical Corps Depot at Shorncliffe, Kent and worked at Moore Barracks Hospital on light duties. A Medical Board in January 1918 categorised him as “E” and suggested he be discharged.

After his honourable discharge as medically unfit in February 1918, Thomas returned to his farm and applied for a second grant. He and Roseanna remained there until he retired in the late 1930s. Thomas died of bronchitis in the University of Alberta Hospital on 27 May 1942 and, as his death was due to his war service, he was buried in a war grave in Edmonton Municipal Cemetery.

Civil Parish: Hunwick and Helmington

Birth date: 07-Mar-1876

Death date: 27-May-1942

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: Church Lane, Hunwick (1881 census)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (1916 census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta)

Religion: Church of England

Employment: Farmer (1911 Canadian census)

Family: Parents: Robert Iley, Elizabeth Iley nee Branford
Siblings: Harry Iley, Jane Iley, William Iley, Elizabeth Iley, Mary Iley, James Iley, Maria Iley, Henry Iley
Spouse: Roseanna Iley nee Breed
Children: Thomas Iley, Rose Iley, Robert Iley, Alice Iley

Military service:

18511
Private
9th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Canadian Army Medical Corps

Medal(s): Victory Medal
British War Medal

Memorial(s): Edmonton Municipal Cemetery, Alberta, Canada

Gender: Male

Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham