Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Service no. 21/209
Born: 1896. Died 9th February, 1918, aged 21
Story
Thomas was the son of Joseph Birch and Annie Townend of Beech Grove Ave., Garforth, and he was baptised on 10th May 1896. The family photograph (above right) shows Joseph and Annie Birch with three of their children, Thomas (centre), Harriet, and Alice. Later Birch brothers and sisters were Helen, Walter, Percy, Joseph and Sarah. Thomas was a Grocer’s Assistant before the War, and from information handed down through the family, it is known that Thomas was very quick at “reckoning up”. A Christmas card received by his parents (below left), shows that he was in France with the Fourth Division in 1916. At a later date (possibly 1917) he came home on leave, and was said to have been “unable to keep away from the kitchen tap” constantly drinking water. This gives rise to the idea that he may have experienced breathing in some poison gas, which had damaged his throat. Thomas returned to the front, but was found collapsed by another Garforth boy, and taken to an ambulance station. From there he was sent home, and died in hospital. His grave (pictured) is in Garforth churchyard.
At least three of Thomas’s siblings married and moved to Kippax.
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