Pte 16396 Thomas Ernest Schulke (Shaw)

• Age: 21
• From: West Derby, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

16396 Private Thomas Ernest Schulke18th Battalion KLR.

Thomas was born in West Derby, Liverpool on 23rd December 1894 the the third of eight sons of Albert Bernhard Schulke and his wife Ann Eliza (nee Beare). His paternal grandparents came to the U.K. from Prussia in about 1858 and ran a restaurant in Liverpool.  His father Bernhard Albert was born in Liverpool in 1859;  his mother was from Liverpool, born in 1864.  They married on the 12th Oct 1884 at St Bride with St Saviour, Toxteth and had eleven children. Albert was a 25 year old waiter of Lune St, father Carl, whilst Ann was aged 20 of 69 Mulberry St, father John. 

He had older siblings Bertha Ann, born in 1886 (who sadly died in 1893 age 6), Charles Beare 1887, Florence 1890, Albert Bernard 1892, and William Frederick 1894 (who died at 7 months), and younger siblings George Sidney 1896, Andrew Alexander 1897, William Henry 1899. Elsie Annie 1901, and John Max, born in 1902. 

Before Thomas' birth, in 1886 and 1891, the family lived in Mulberry Street, and his father worked as a waiter.  At the time of Thomas' birth in 1894 they were living in Butler Street.

The 1901 Census shows the family are living at 8 Steren Terrace,  Kensington, Liverpool with eight children under 14 years old. Thomas is 6 years old and lives with his parents and seven siblings. His father, Albert B. is 41 years of age and states that he is a general labourer, whilst his mother Annie is shown to be 36 years of age. His siblings are shown as; Charles B. aged 13, Florence is 10, Albert B. is 8, George S. is 4, Andrew A. is 3, William H. is 2 and Elsie A. is aged 2 months.

By 1911 they have moved to 162 Molyneux Road, Kensington. His father, 51, is a porter in a leather warehouse, and his mother is 46. They have been married for 26 years and have had 11 children, of which two had died. Florence, 20, has no occupation, Albert, 18, is a butcher's shop assistant, George, 14, is a grocer's shop boy, and Andrew, 13, William 12, Elsie 10 and John 8 are at school.  Thomas is 16, a gold watch-case maker apprentice.  He appears not to have completed his apprenticeship, due to expire in 1916, with Benson Brothers, a well-known Liverpool watch-case maker, as at the time of his enlistment he gives a different occupation.  His eldest brother Charles, a salesman, is boarding in Birmingham.  
 
Thomas Ernest Schulke enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 01st September 1914. He joined the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 16396. He gave his age as 19 years 252 days, his occupation as shipping clerk, having been apprenticed to Benson Brothers, watch case manufacturers of 72 Wood Street, Liverpool, this being due to expire in 1916. He was described as being 5' 6" tall, weight 126lbs, 34” chest, with a fresh complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair. His religion was stated as Church of England.

German residents in Liverpool faced little hostility early in the war; however, this changed with the sinking of the Lusitania on 07th May 1915, with mobs attacking and ransacking German owned shops or businesses with Germanic names.  By 12th May, 200 establishments had been gutted, causing damage of £40,000 (over £4.3 million today).  The police rounded up 150 German residents, who were removed by special train to internment camps.  Before the war 75% of the pork butcher shops in Liverpool were run by German families;  by the end of the war there were believed to be no German butchers remaining.  The anti-German riots began in Liverpool but soon spread to other cities.  As a result of the hostility, the German shepherd dog breed was renamed the Alsatian, and the Royal Family changed its name in 1917 to Windsor from the Germanic Saxe-Coburg Gothe.   

Reflecting the pressure of the times, on 15th September 1915 the family (all Liverpool born) placed a signed and witnessed public notice in the Liverpool Daily Post to the effect that henceforth they would be known by the surname Shaw.   It was signed by Bernhard Albert and his wife Annie, son Charles and his wife Ada in Birmingham, Albert, a Private in the 4th Bn K.L.R., Thomas, a Private in the 2nd Bn K.L.R. (i.e., 2nd Pals), George, a Private in the 4th West Lancs R.A.M.C., Andrew a fishmonger, William a mercantile clerk, and Elsie and John Max,  of 151 Molyneux Road.  Florence had married in 1912 and was now Mrs. Briscoe.

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

On 3^rd August 1915 at Belton Park he was confined to barracks for 4 days and fined 2 days pay for being AWOL for 27 hours. 

He crossed to France with his Battalion on board the SS Invicta on the 07^th November 1915.

Thomas was killed in action during the attack at Montauban on 01^st July 1916, his casualty form states he had the machine gunner qualification.  

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 days 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. 

Thomas has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

His family placed a notice in the Liverpool Echo on 13th July 1916:

"July 2 [sic], killed in action in his 22nd year, Private Thomas Ernest Shaw (Pals), dearly-beloved third son of Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, 151, Molyneux Road, Liverpool. (Sadly missed by all.)" 

His name appeared in the list of Rank and File killed published in the Liverpool Daily Post on the 7th September 1916:  Schulke 16393 (sic) T. (Liverpool). 

Although all his military records are in the name of Schulke, by the time CWGC corresponded with his parents after the war concerning his memorial, the family wished him to be commemorated under the name Shaw. As such the CWGC shows him as Thomas Shaw and his parents as Albert and Annie Shaw, 102 Woodford Road, Ilford, London. 

His Army effects and a War Gratuity of £8-10 went to his father Albert.  The pension card showing 2/16th Liverpool Regiment, in the name of his mother at 151 Molyneux Road does not show the amount awarded, but both surnames Shaw and Schulke are cross-referenced, with a notation "name changed by deed poll". 

A note on his file dated October 1916 indicated that his effects, medals etc should be sent to his father, A. B. Schulke of 151 Molyneux Road.

In 1920 and 1921, his father received and signed for his son’s medals in the name of Schulke.

A sworn declaration dated 10^th July 1919 also listed Thomas’s surviving relatives as Schulke. Charlie B. aged 32,  Mrs Florence Briscoe 29, Albert Bernard 27, George Sidney 23, Andrew Alexander 22, William Henry 20,  Elsie 19 John Max 17. 

His father did not live to see a second World War with Germany, but died in Essex in 1937/8, aged 78. 

In 1939 his widowed mother Annie, 75, is living with married daughters Florence Briscoe and Elsie McNamara and their families in Addison Walk, Oswestry, Shropshire. Annie appears to have lived through the war and died in 1951/2, aged 86.

We currently have no further information on Thomas Ernest Schulke (Shaw), If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.