Add New Content


Please log in or register to add new content.

Login

Report Inaccuracies


Thomas Leeming (1895-1962)


Throston born served at Gallipoli and on the Somme with 3rd Field Ambulance Company, AIF


At the age of 21, Thomas Leeming enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He had lived with his family in Australia for just four years at that time.

Thomas was born in the parish of St Hilda’s, Throston, just outside West Hartlepool, on 29 December 1895. He was the third son of William Leeming, a smith from Hartlepool, and his wife, Alice. In due course, another two girls were born.

As a teenager, Thomas had served for 18 months with the Territorial Army and had spent another five years with the Wellesley Training Unit (possibly the Wellesley Training Ship in North Shields(1)), before being discharged when he left for Australia.

On 11 February 1911, Thomas arrived in Brisbane on board the “Suffolk” out of Liverpool. He travelled with his mother, his brother, William, and his two sisters. (His older brother, Frederick, was serving with the Royal Field Artillery by that time (2). His father may have gone on ahead of the rest of the family). The family settled in Brisbane, Queensland, and by 1914, Thomas was working as a fireman.

On 1 March 1915, Thomas joined the AIF as a driver in the Third Field Ambulance Company. After basic training in Australia and Egypt, with his unit, Thomas embarked for service in the Dardanelles on 21 July 1915. The Field Ambulances were stationed on the beach at Gallipoli and as they went forward to help evacuate injured soldiers, the men ran the same risks as the front line combat troops.

Thomas found himself admitted to his hospital ship on 21 September, not as a result of a gunshot wound, but with a septic finger. The dirt and insanitary conditions, coupled with no antibiotics, meant that septic wounds could very quickly worsen.

Back in Egypt in early 1916, Thomas found himself on a charge, deemed with being absent without leave. He had been missing from 11 pm on 15 February until 9.20 the following morning. He was sentenced to 24 hours Field Punishment Number 2 for his crime.

The Field Ambulance Companies left Egypt for France alongside the infantry battalions they supported. On 4 May 1917, the 1st Division to which Thomas’ Field Ambulance was attached, was drawn into the fighting at Bullecourt, in the Somme Valley. Casualties were heavy, with 2341 Australians injured, one of whom was Thomas, shot in the right knee, and with a fractured tibia.

After a month’s care in France, Thomas was evacuated back to England on 12 June. His war was over and he returned to Australia in December. Thomas was discharged from the army as medically unfit on 5 January 1918.

11 months later he married Emma Linkins, an English girl, originally from Kent. Their son, Thomas William, was born soon after, to be followed three years later by a daughter, Ivy. They settled in Brisbane and for a while, Thomas’ sister, Alice, lived with the young couple. Thomas worked as a labourer for most of his life and received a war pension for the injuries he sustained in 1917.

Thomas died at the age of 67, in Brisbane.

(1) The training ship, Wellesley, was based in North Shield sand was primarily an industrial school, providing schooling and work experience for the most impoverished boys of Shields. Many went on to join the Royal Navy.


(2) Thomas’ oldest brother, Frederick, enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in 1905, aged just 15. He was still serving at the outbreak of the Great War and transferred to the Indian Army Supply Corps. He was discharged on medical grounds on 14 May 1915.

Civil Parish: Throston

Birth date: 29-Dec-1895

Death date: 29-Aug-1962

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: Gracemere Street, Newmarket, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, (1919 electoral roll)
151 Shafston Avenue, Oxley, Brisbane (1925 electoral roll)
Railway Parade, Norman Park, Griffith, Brisbane (1943-58 electoral rolls)

Employment: Fireman, Labourer

Family: Parents: William Leeming (b 1863), Ann Alice Leeming (nee Pincott 1868-1941 from Hartlepool)
Siblings: Frederick George Leeming (1887-1918), William Huntridge Leeming (1890-1942), Alice Leeming (1903-1995), Lily Leeming (1905-1983)
Wife: Emma Louisa Leeming (nee Linkins b 1897 in Kent married 13-Dec-1918 in Brisbane)
Children: Thomas William Leeming (b 1918), Ivy Leeming (1921-2008)

Military service:

Pre-War Service: Territorial Army, Wellesley Training Unit
Service Number 589
Driver/Private
Australian 3rd Field Ambulance Company, AIF
Enlisted 01-Mar-1915 in Brisbane
Discharged as Medically Unfit 05-Jan-1918

Medal(s): 1914/15 Star
British War Medal
Victory Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by Kelloe Visitor, Trimdon Station

Comments on this story


Comment

There are no comments on this story yet.