Thomas Styring

Thomas' army service records survive. It tells us that Thomas enlisted into the Army on 11th January 1916 , giving an address of Lowbeck Farm, Walkeringham , he is 23 years and 7 months of age and is a cowman , his next of kin is given as his father Thomas Schofield originally of Lowbeck Farm, Walkeringham but this is later crossed through and the address Moor Farm Doddington near Lincoln substituted. On the 12th January he is posted to the Army reserve and was mobilised on 24th May 1916 and on 26th posted to the Royal Garrison Artillery . Following training he embarked at Southampton for the Western Front arriving at Le Harve the following day. He was killed in action on 1st March 1917 and is buried in Pont-Du-Hem Cemetery ,La Gorgue, Nord , France An article from the Gainsborough News dated 16th march 1917 reads :- Gringley on the Hill The sad intelligence has been received that another brave Gringley young man has been killed in action, in the person of Gunner Thos Styring. The full particulars as to how he met his death are not yet to hand, but it appears that on his return to the firing line, after a brief respite ,he and a comrade were instantaneously killed by a shell. The deceased was a quiet unassuming young man of much promise, and of unblemished character. He was a regular attender at the parish church, being the younger son of Mr and Mrs T S Styring of Low Fields Farm, for whom much sympathy is felt in their irreparable loss.

Source, ‘Gringley a Tribute to the 24 ‘ published July 2014 by the Gringley History Club. www.gohistory.org.uk (Courtesy of Alan Hickman)