I know he was living with his parents in the year 1901, and also in 1911 when both he and his father were recorded as Labourers.
Military Records from W.W. I
The picture below shows our very smart Tot as a Corporal (?)
of the Durham Light Infantry. He would've been aged 23 in the year 1914. More to be found out from the DLI records there, I should think. I see quite a resemblance to our Lizzie, his sister, in this photo of him.
The Durham County Council has a great deal of archived material (which can be searched from here) - and I found reference to a T. Fitzpatrick who was the Bugler for the DLI 2nd Battalion "H" Company around 1906. {Our Tot would've been 15 in 1906...too young??}
I found a page in the Spennymoor Book of Remembrance, a Sergeant T. Fitzpatrick is in the WW I list of Distinctions with a military medal (we know our Tot returned home safe, so he won't be in the 'Remembered' list) . {See below - by military medal, I should have read the Military Medal.}
"And now over to our Tudhoe Correspondent:"This name also appears on the War Memorial for Tudhoe Village. Also a Pte W. Fitzpatrick there, but I'm afraid I have no idea who he was. It isn't recorded which regiment these soldiers were in.
Apologies to Thomas Dawson & 5 other men whose name have been snipped at the bottom of this image of the North-East panel.
More details on this memorial are recorded on the Picture Spennymoor History site, here. Also on the NEWMP site - here, or here for the images, inluding a very old postcard.
Basically there you'll see that 3 sides of the memorial commerorate Tudhoe soldiers who fought in the war, whilst on the final side are carved the names of the fallen. (The Fitzpatrick names are not on this latter side.)
At the National Archives, Kew, there is an archive of records relating to soldiers in WW I. These include enlistment details, medical records, pension records and the medal cards (tiny service record cards). They are not complete, however.
Free access to these records was made available through Ancestry.com -- now restricted to members.
I searched these records for our DLI soldier, Thos Fitzpatrick - see copy below.
(Note that a huge number of records were destroyed by bomb damage in WW II. Some of the records have lots of singed bits, if you view an image of the originals)
This was the result (below) - it is called the medal card, and is for a Thomas Fitzpatrick of the Durham Light Infantry. He was a Corporal - and then was promoted to a something / Sgt, perhaps Acting Serjeant?. His Regimental number is not very clear - 18170?? On The National Archives index, Thomas Fitz of the DLI is recorded as number 18140.
He entered the Theatre of War in France in August 1915 (our Tot would have been aged 24 then).
I can't be sure it's our Uncle Tot, but it could be! (There were no other surviving records for T. Fitz's - except for those living in other parts of the UK.)
Click on the image to enlarge it: Medal Card, Sgt T. Fitzpatrick.
Details of the service medals are in the section on the bottom left. Also in blue ink (by his name) we see MM, for Military Medal. (Over 135,000 soldiers of the lower ranks have been awarded this medal. Read more about this medal here, or here)
Sgt T. Fitzpatrick (18170, D.L.I.) is listed in this page from the London Gazette, 1916, as one of many receiving the Military Medal for bravery . At the beginning of the list it says:-
"War Office, 23rd August, 1916.It was lovely to hear from Hilary that her grandmother (Nance), "did not make too much of a fuss about it." Best not let him get too big for his boots, eh?! In fact, I'm sure all involved were glad to be able to put it behind them.
His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to award the Military Medal for bravery in the field to the undermentioned Non-commissioned Officers and Men: —"
On the other hand, another grandaughter of his, Jane, remembers a much stronger reaction from Nance. This time it was a dislike of the lovely photo you see at the top of this post (Tot in his DLI uniform) - it was "a large photo in quite an ornate frame. Gran Fitz (Nancy) didn't like it and it had pride of place in the ..........shed!"
"When they moved from Hinckley, she threw it out." Goodness me! Glad to have been able to help restore the photograph to Jane & her family.
Which DLI Battalion?
Sadly the medals card doesn't tell me which Battalion he was in, otherwise I could find out more about his war service. (e.g. the 6th Battalion of DLI is described in this book, and there are several Battalion War Diaries at the National Archives, or one for the 18th Battalion which is available to read online here.)
However, from the recorded date of entry to France (25.8.1915), we can surmise (using the info on this Wiki page) that this gent was part of the 12th or 13th regiment of the DLI, which was part of the 23rd Division. Read more about how busy they were on this section of an excellent WW I history site - www.1914-1918.net - from which we learn that they also served in Italy before returning home.
The entry on the right "Cl. Z" means that Tot was not demobilised immediately at the armistice, but rather passed into the Z class of soldiers who were retained till March 1920... ready just in case war erupted again. (See this page of advice about interpreting medal cards - class Z is explained near the bottom.)
Civilian Life.
When not in the army, I do know that Tot earned his living (before WW I) as a Labourer, as did his father. In the 1911 census, he was living with his parents, and working as a Screen Man at the colliery (above ground). We know that Tot married Annie (Nance) Campbell, of Wolsingham (possibly from Weardale St.), in 1921. They had 2 children - Jean (who married a Bernard Lewis), and William. Annie was a little younger than Tot, born in 1900.
Here's a photo of Jean & Billy with Nance (standing):
Tot and Nance are remembered as moving to Mount Pleasant, Bilston (West Midlands). There they were helping Bernard (son-in-law, who married Jean) who ran the Windmill Cement Company. (Thank you, Tina!)
Here's the result of a Google search for this business - 9 pages of archives from March 1909 (till when??), memos and Articles of Association of the Windmill Cement Co. Ltd. They are held in a Walsall Archive (ref 315/12/4).
Also an article from the London Gazette of 1966, showing the announcement for a meeting of creditors in Edgbaston. Shows the Director's name is B. Lewis.
Bernard died in Glasgow in 1985.
- Here's a note from Hilary, a descendant of Tot & Nance (Hi!). It was lovely to find another person who has memories of visiting my Great Grandma in Tudhoe Village!
Hilary has the citation for a medal which was awarded to Thomas Fitzpatrick, and has been able to confirm that the medal record I have (image above) was the correct one.
- Here's a note from Jane, a descendant of Tot & Nance (Lovely to hear from you, Jane! Thankyou for sharing);
He had a wicked sense of humour."
"From Elmsthorpe they moved to Hinckley. They had a detached house called Hilfreda, just off Coventry Road. Grandad worked for the local council as a rat catcher and operated the 'lethal chamber' where they put down stray dogs. This was a strange occupation for him as he also bred Cairn Terriers {we see some in the photo above} and would often bring the strays home rather than put them down. They had a huge garden including the infamous shed which stored hay for the animals and a large run for the dogs. There was a huge greenhouse in which he grew tomatoes, geraniums and in the autumn Chysanthemums. There were also large flower beds and vegetable plots. All rather lost on Nance as she wasn't a very good cook. They remained there until they moved back 'north' when my mum and dad moved north to run a shop in Bishop Auckland."
Annie died in 1989, after a long time as a widow since Thomas died 29th Nov 1965, aged 73.
Both of Tot & Annie's children, Jean and William went on to marry and had 4 children each.
Links to find out more:
A fascinating introduction to the military history (WW I) of County Durham is available here.
A link here for the modern-day DLI Museum site.
If you want to research Military History for genealogy purposes, start with this new website; UK-MFH.
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