Pte 30261 Thomas Mounsey

• Age: 22
• From: Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Danzig Alley Cem, Mametz
  Panel Ref: Mem 15

30261 PrivateThomas MOUNSEY,  18^th Battalion KLR.

Thomas was born in Ellesmere Port  on the 23^rd July 1893, the only son of Councillor Tom Mounsey and  his wife Frances Jordan (nee Chatburn) who were married on the 07^th January 1891 at St. Thomas' Church, Ashton-in-Makerfield. Tom was aged 26, father Thomas, whist Frances was aged 28, father Joseph. He was baptised on the 03^rd September 1893 also at St Thomas' Church.  

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 54, Dock Street, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. His father, Tom, is aged 37, born in Cumberland in 1864 is a clothier outfitter, his mother, Frances Jordan, is aged 37, born 1864 in Hulme, Lancashire and has no occupation listed. They have two children declared in the household; Thomas aged 7, born 1894 and May aged 1, born 1900. 

The 1911 Census shows the family now living at 18 Stanlow Villas, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. His father, Tom, is aged 45, and is still employed as a clothier outfitter, his mother, Frances Jordan, is aged 47, and has no occupation listed.  They have been married for twenty years and have had four children of which two had died. Thomas aged 17 is a clothier shop assistant and May aged 12 (Year of birth has changed from 1900 to 1899) is at school. They have a nephew Robert Mounsey Wallis aged 24, born 1887 and employed as a clothier shop assistant and a domestic general servant by the name of Sarah Ellis aged 18. Born 1893 also living at the address.

Thomas enlisted in Liverpool on 12th July 1915 and was serving in the 18th Battalion as Private No 30261.

He arrived in France as part of a reinforcement draft on 29th December 1915, and joined his Battalion in the field a few days later.

It is known he was injured by a rifle grenade at Carnoy on 05^th May 1916.

Thomas was killed in action on 01^st July 1916, aged 22, during the attack at Montauban.

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun. 

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter wrote in the conclusion of his account of the day’s action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.   

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257. 

He was originally buried in Vernon Street Cemetery, Carnoy but the location of his remains were lost, probably through enemy shelling. He is now commemorated on the war memorial in Dantzig Alley British Cemetery. The Inscription on his headstone reads:

"BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH AND I WILL GIVE THEE A CROWN OF LIFE"

The village of Mametz was carried by the 7th Division on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, after very hard fighting at Dantzig Alley (a German trench) and other points. The cemetery was begun later in the same month and was used by field ambulances and fighting units until the following November. The ground was lost during the great German advance in March 1918 but regained in August, and a few graves were added to the cemetery in August and September 1918. At the Armistice, the cemetery consisted of 183 graves, now in Plot I, but it was then very greatly increased by graves (almost all of 1916) brought in from the battlefields north and east of Mametz and from certain smaller burial grounds, including:-

VERNON STREET CEMETERY, CARNOY, in the valley between Carnoy and Maricourt, at a place called "Squeak Forward Position". 110 soldiers who died in July-October 1916 were buried here by the 21st Infantry Brigade and other units.

Dantzig Alley British Cemetery now contains 2,053 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 518 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 17 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 71 casualties buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

He is also commemorated on the following Memorials:

Christ Church, Ellesmere Port 

Ellesmere Port War Memorial.

His mother died, aged 66, in the December quarter of 1929. 

His father, Tom, date of birth 21^st March 1865, is found on the 1939 register at "Greystoke", Pooltown Road, Ellesmere Port, living with Daisy J. Roberts who he married the following year. 

His father died, aged 88, in 1953. 

The 1911 Census shows that living with the family was young Thomas’s cousin, Robert Mounsey Wallis, aged 24 years and a clothes shop assistant. Robert served with the Cheshire Regiment as Private 11600, enlisting at Chester on 27^th August 1914 aged 26 years 8 months. Initially his Medical Certificate shows that the Medical Officer considered him unfit for service, suffering from bad varicose veins. This decision, however, was overturned by a more senior officer, Colonel J. Roberts, who declared Robert fit for General Service. Robert arrived in the Balkans with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 26^th June 1915, qualifying him for all three medals. In October 1915 he was admitted to hospital suffering from jaundice and eventually returned to the UK where he spent much of 1916 in hospital in Manchester before being medically discharged on 02^nd June 1916 with a pension of 12/6d per week for himself, his wife and one child.