Sergeant Thomas Steele, V.C.

Seaforth Highlanders, 1st Battalion, Service no. 811

Born 6th February 1891 in Springhead, Oldham, Thomas Steele worked as a bobbin carrier at the Rome factory in Saddleworth, after he left school: a low-paid job in the cotton industry, carrying spools of thread to the looms, ready for the weavers. With Scottish ancestry, he enlisted with the Seaforth Highlanders on 22^nd August 1911. His time in the First World War is described in the following newspaper article. He also fought in Ypres and Loos:

11^th June 1917, Manchester Evening News

Oldham Soldier Eleven Times Wounded
Wins Victoria Cross for Gallant Exploit
Oldham’s latest hero is Sergeant Thomas Steele, V.C., of the Seaforth Highlanders, and how he came to join the army six years ago was told to our representative by the hero’s father, who was unaware until our representative called on him that his son had been so signally honoured.
Sergeant Steele is 26 years of age, and was formerly a bobbin carrier at the Rome Mill, but through some cause he was out of work for three days, and young Steele, not liking idleness, said he would join the army. This he did, and at the outbreak of war was in India with his battalion. He came with the Indian Expedition Force to France and saw all the severe fighting at Mons, La Bassée, and Neuve Chappelle in the early stages of the war. Once he narrowly escaped with his life, for when in charge of two other men with a machine gun, a German shell came over and made a fair hit on the weapon, killing Steele’s two companions. Fortunately, a second or two before Steele had stepped at one side, and was unhurt.
A modest young man
Later he journeyed to Mesopotamia and went through the trying campaign with the force endeavouring to relieve General Townshend at Kut. The feat for which
he has gained the Victoria Cross was performed just before the capture of Bagdad by General Maude, and though little has been said by Steele of his performance, it is known that he took command when all his officers had become casualties. He was wounded no fewer than eleven times during his exploit, and in a letter home jocularly remarked that “he would show Sam (another soldier brother) for the most wounds.” The hero has modestly refrained from any mention of his own work. The following official account, however, shows how well it was done:
At a critical moment when a strong enemy counter-attack had temporarily regained some of the captured trenches, Sergeant Steele rushed forward and assisted a comrade to carry a machine gun into position. He kept the gun in action until relieved, being mainly instrumental in keeping the remainder of the line intact. Some hours later another strong attack enabled the enemy to reoccupy a portion of the captured trenches. Again Sergeant Steele showed the greatest bravery, and by personal valour and example was able to rally troops who were wavering. He encouraged them to remain in their trenches and led a number of them forward, thus greatly helping to re-establish our line. On this occasion he was severely wounded. These acts of valour were performed under heavy artillery and rifle fire.
Refused a Commission
Sergeant Steele V.C. is one of three brothers serving in the army, the other two being Lance-Corporal Samuel Steele, Royal Scots, who is now lying in hospital at Cardiff severely wounded in the right ankle, and Private William Steele, Highland Light Infantry, who is in training at the Curragh Camp. The two last named brothers have joined the army since the outbreak.
Sergeant Steele, who is in hospital in India, making a good recovery, was offered a commission, which however, he declined to accept. His parents live at 2 Walkers, Springhead, Oldham.

The slow advance towards the town of Kut-el-Amara had reached Sanna-y-Yat by 22^nd February 1917. According to the war diaries, at 6:30am British artillery began to bombard the enemy camp behind their trench lines, and guns of the 7^th Division shelled their trenches, with machine guns sweeping the area. Enemy aircraft retaliated by dropping a couple of bombs upon the allied camp, and Turkish troops launched five counter-attacks. During the afternoon, Indian troops to the right of the Seaforths stopped advancing, and had begun to give ground. Sergeant Thomas Steele and Private Joseph Winder rushed out across open landscape to rally the Indian troops. They took a machine gun carried back by the Indian troops and ran to a gap in the line, opening fire just in time to prevent a Turkish advance. Next day, the Seaforths advanced beyond the Smada position, and found the Turkish trenches to be full of dead and wounded enemy soldiers.

Sergeant Thomas Steele received the Victoria Cross award from King George V on April 10, 1919 at Buckingham Palace, London for his actions as a sergeant in the 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders on February 22, 1917 near Sanna-y-Yat, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) during World War I. Private Joseph Winder was awarded the distinguished conduct medal and Médaille Militaire. He was later promoted company sergeant major, but was killed in action on the 2nd November 1918 in France, a few days before the Armistice.

Thomas Steele’s Victoria Cross medal is now held in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery of the Imperial War Museum, London. He also received the 1914 Star, the British War Medal (1914-20), the Victory Medal (1914-19), the Defence Medal (1939-45), the King George VI Coronation Medal (1937), the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal (1953), and the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977).

Before the War, Thomas Steele played professional rugby with Broughton Rangers, one of rugby league’s founding clubs (subsequently re-named Belle Vue Rangers), and enjoyed a distinguished amateur rugby league career with his local club, Healey Street; and also served as a scoutmaster in Lees. He married on the 8^th June 1922:

Sergeant Steele and his wife Bertha, left Springhead, Oldham and came to live at Mount Pleasant, Kippax, after losing his job as a tote operator. Private Frank Gray, no. 7816 who served in the same regiment as Thomas, tracked down his old Machine Gun sergeant, and made a newspaper appeal to find him a job in December 1930. Whilst the appeal was well intended, Thomas felt it necessary to correct the story, and did not believe his war record should merit him any special consideration.

Yorkshire V.C. Searching for a Job. Please help if you can
Ex-Sergeant Thomas Steele, V.C., of Hollis Buildings, Mount Pleasant, Kippax, who has fallen on hard times, has been the subject of an unusual call for aid by one of his former comrades, a private.
Sergeant Steele, whose wife is an invalid, is 39 years of age. He joined the Seaforth Highlanders in 1911, and after serving in India was drafted to France during the Great War and afterwards to Mesopotamia. There, in February 1917, his gallantry in taking command of a machine gun section and twice rallying the men after the officers had been killed gained him the V.C.
After the war he was employed for a time in cotton mills at Oldham, where his mother lives, and last year he obtained a position as a tote operator under the Betting Control Board. He lost his place through staff reductions at the close of the flat-racing season and is now drawing the dole.
Comrade’s Appeal
Sergeant Steele’s mother told a Mercury reporter that it was when a visit was made to her home by a man who said he was No. 7816 that her son’s position became known. No. 7816 hides the identity of an ex-private in the Seaforth Highlanders, who wanted to see his old sergeant again, and he has issued an appeal to former members of the regiment to help the V.C.
Steele has made repeated applications for positions without success, but is no case has he mentioned that he is a V.C. He says, “I want to obtain employment on my merits as a workman, and not trade on my decoration.”
Despite the hard times which have come his way he has steadfastly kept his Military honour a secret, and very few of his neighbours know of it.

Thomas Steele left Kippax and moved down to Leicester, working for Central Motors. Just prior to the outbreak of World War Two, Thomas enlisted again, as a Battalion Sergeant-Major with the Royal Artillery (Territorials), and then joined the Home Guard.

Thomas Steele inspecting cadets in 1940:

At the end of the War, Thomas returned to Leicester:

Thomas found work as a fruit seller and a telephone clerk, before retiring in 1956 at 65. However he continued to keep in touch with his First World War comrades:

Thomas Steele (centre) with two fellow comrades:

Despite his time in Kippax taking place during a difficult period of his life, Thomas would return to Kippax in the 1970s, and was honoured in the British Legion. The story also featured in the press:

His wife died in Leicester in December 1977, and Thomas moved back to his childhood village in Springhead, Oldham, where he passed away, aged 87, on the 11th July 1978. His ashes were interred in the family grave at St Anne’s Churchyard, Lydgate, where, on the 22 February 2017, a commemorative paving stone was unveiled in his honour by Councilor Derek Heffernan, the Mayor of Oldham. On the 11^th November 2015, Sergeant Steele was also inducted into the Super League Players’ Association Hall of Honour.