{"id":2493,"date":"2023-11-11T10:39:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T10:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=2493"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:22:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:22:34","slug":"thomas-william-hetherington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/11\/thomas-william-hetherington\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas William Hetherington x2: Lest we forget"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018Lest we forget\u2019. Sadly, in 2023, it\u2019s impossible for us to \u2018forget\u2019 the horrors and tragedies of war. The phrase is associated with famous author Rudyard Kipling. Kipling was initially gung-ho about the First World War and pulled strings to get his only son, John, a commission in the British Army (after John was rejected for his poor eyesight). Tragically, John was killed in action in September 1915 \u2013 and Rudyard Kipling became fiercely critical of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

‘If any question why we died, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Tell them, because our fathers lied.’<\/p>\nCommon Form, Rudyard Kipling<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s Remembrance post on Cumbrian Characters<\/em> remembers two men with the same name, born a few months and about ten miles apart \u2013 two lives cut short by the infamous Battle of the Somme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas William Hetherington x2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thomas William Hetherington and Thomas William Hetherington were first cousins, once removed. Both births were registered in Wigton distict \u2013 one in the June quarter of 1886, the other in the March quarter of 1887. Birth certificates would confirm which was which. But as there is a short-service document for the man I will refer to as TWH 2, dated June 1915, which says he is 28 years 6 months, it fits that he was the early 1887 birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas William Hetherington 1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

TWH 1 was born at Westnewton, the only son of William Beaty Hetherington and Sarah, n\u00e9e Pattinson. They also had a daughter, Sarah Jane, but no other children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1891, he was with his parents at Pasture House, Westnewton. There\u2019s no sign of any of them on the 1901 census. But 1911 shows William, Sarah and Sarah Jane at one address in Dundraw, while TWH 1 is also at Dundraw, with wife of less than a year Eleanor (n\u00e9e Tyson) and their baby daughter Isabella, just two months old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TWH 1 was a farm labourer. Two more daughters followed: Sarah Jane, in November 1912 \u2013 and Eleanor, born on November 1, 1914.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How must TW\u2019s wife Eleanor have felt when, just over two weeks later, her husband signed up to join the Army?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TWH 1 signed up to three years\u2019 Short Service. He wasn\u2019t to survive that long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Border Regiment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

TWH 1 served with the Lonsdale Battalion<\/a> of the Border Regiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service record shows he was 5ft 4 1\/2ins tall (average height for those days was about 5ft 6ins), and weighed just over 9 stone. He had a \u2018ruddy complexion,\u2019 blue eyes, and dark hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He signed over half his Army pay to Eleanor, and was home from November 16-22, 1915, for a few precious days with her and the three little ones. But on the 23rd, he left for France\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, he was <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018regarded for official purposes as having died\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

His name is one of 72,337 on the Thiepval Memorial to the \u2018missing\u2019 of that battle, those with no known grave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 1917, Eleanor was awarded a widow\u2019s pension of 20 shillings and 6d a week, for herself and the children \u2013 about \u00a357 in today\u2019s values. Had her husband stayed a farm labourer, he\u2019d have been earning about 60-70 shillings a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Thomas
Fields where battles were fought more than 100 years ago are still littered with reminders. This, the guide said, is from barbed wire defences. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Thomas William Hetherington 2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

TWH 2 was the third son (fourth child of five) of school teacher James Hetherington and Esther Jane, n\u00e9e Bainbridge. He was with his parents on the 1891 and 1901 census, at Beck Bottom, Westward.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A newspaper report of his death said he served an apprenticeship to the drapery business with Mr A Graham, of Wigton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1911, he\u2019d move south to London: he is one of 33, young \u2018wholesale draper\u2019s assistants\u2019 sharing seven rooms at 47 Wood Street, next to the Curriers\u2019 Hall, London Wall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This must have been literally \u2018above the shop\u2019 \u2013 namely Foster, Porter and Co. One wonders how the other 32 young men fared in the conflict that was to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Short Service record shows TWH 2 signed up on June 17, 1915, by which time his address was a few miles north: 39 Frobisher Road, Hornsey (seemingly a four-bed terraced house, worth just under \u00a31million today). It\u2019s likely he was lodging with other people, but it was a step up from Wood Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some reason, this Cumbrian living in London became a private in the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was to take him, too, to the Battle of the Somme, where he survived a few weeks longer than his \u2018cousin\u2019.  TWH 2 died \u2018of wounds\u2019 on August 23, 1916 and was buried at Le Neuville British cemetery, Corbie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most burials are men who died at the nearby casualty clearing station no. 21. The date he was wounded is unknown.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Thomas
Thomas William Hetherington 2 is buried at Le Neuville cemetery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A memorial service was held at Westward Church on September 13, 1916, was attended by the family and \u2018a large number of parishioners\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rev T W Melrose spoke of his \u2018great sacrifice\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cHe has given his life for his King and country and for God.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Lest we forget\u2019. Sadly, in 2023, it\u2019s impossible for us to \u2018forget\u2019 the horrors and tragedies of war. The phrase is associated with famous author Rudyard Kipling. Kipling was initially gung-ho about the First World War and pulled strings to get his only son, John, a commission in the British Army (after John was rejected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-world-war"],"yoast_head":"\nThomas William Hetherington x2: Lest we forget - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thomas William Hetherington \u2013 two men with the same name, born a few miles and a few months apart. 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