First World War Medal Trio – Private Thomas Bates, 2nd Bn. Rifle Brigade
1914-15 Star – S-10405 PTE T. BATES. RIF: BRIG:
British War Medal – S-10405 PTE T. BATES. RIF. BRIG.
Victory Medal – S-10405 PTE T. BATES. RIF. BRIG.
Thomas Bates was born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, and enlisted locally at Horncastle into the Rifle Brigade, joining the 2nd Battalion under service number S/10405. Prior to enlistment he was employed as a printer, serving his time with Mr Hugh Willson, a detail confirmed in contemporary local press reports.
He proceeded overseas to France on 27 July 1915, joining the battalion on the Western Front during a period of sustained trench warfare following the battles of Neuve Chapelle and Aubers Ridge. Throughout late 1915 and into 1916 the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade served in the Béthune sector, rotating through front-line trenches, reserve positions, and carrying out night patrols and trench raids under constant artillery fire.
Rifleman Bates was seriously wounded in France, with newspaper reports noting that he had written home to his parents shortly beforehand describing recent bombing raids, heavy shellfire, and his battalion’s role in supporting the Allied offensive. Despite initial survival, he died of his wounds on 21 July 1916, aged in his early twenties.
He was the son of W. Harry Bates, of 35A Queen’s Street, Horncastle, and is buried at Bethune Town Cemetery, France, Plot V.G.14, where many soldiers who died of wounds in nearby casualty clearing stations are interred.
A deeply personal group, enhanced by the inclusion of an original wartime newspaper photograph and casualty reports, representing a Rifle Brigade soldier who experienced the realities of trench warfare and the Somme campaign before making the ultimate sacrifice.
Horncastle News - Saturday 22 July 1916
Pte. T. Bates Wounded.
We regret to learn that Rifleman Tom Bates, of the Rifle Brigade, has been seriously wounded in France, though full particulars are not yet available. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bates, Queen-street, Horncastle, and was, by trade, a printer, serving his time with Mr. Hugh Willson.
Only last Friday he wrote as follows to his parents:—“Since writing to you I have been through many exciting experiences, for no doubt you have seen in the papers about the Allied offensive, and I suppose you have been rather anxious about me. Well, our Battalion played its part and you will be pleased to hear that I came through it without a scratch. Before the great offensive started, about 50 of us out of my Battalion made a bombing raid at night time on the German trenches, and after bombing their dug-outs we returned to our own trenches, bringing back one prisoner. The great offensive started a few days afterwards, so that we raiders had a double dose of it. This time our Battalion was in reserve in the assembly trenches, just behind our first line, while the Lincolns and Berks made the first attack. Although we did not go over the top (as we call it) we had a very hot time of it, for you see, when a Battalion is in reserve they always catch the shells which the Germans send over in reply to our own bombardment. However, I was fortunate in escaping injury, and we were relieved in the early morning of the next day. We gave the Germans a terrible bombardment for about seven days before, and at night time the flashes of the guns made a grand sight. We are at present well behind the line for a rest, and it seems grand to be out of the way of whizz-bangs and Jack Johnsons. I am quite well and in the best of spirits.”
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AJMS Medals