Thomas Piper
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Thomas was the son of Thomas and Martha Piper (née Mansell). His father Thomas was born in Netherton, Worcestershire, in 1860 and his mother Martha in Tipton Staffordshire in 1862. They were married in 1880 (reg. Dudley Staffordshire) and probably had six children: Sarah Ann b. Netherton 1880, and Elizabeth b. 1883, Thomas b. 1 April 1885, Maria b. 1887, Ethel b. 1889 and William b. 1892 who were born in Kirkby in Ashfield. In 1881 Thomas, a coal miner, Martha and their daughter Sarah (5m) were living in Netherton near Dudley. However, they were living in Nottinghamshire by 1883 when their second daughter Elizabeth was born and registered on the 1891 Census at Byron Street, Kirkby in Ashfield in 1891. In the home on the night of the census were their five chilfren, Sarah, Elizabeth (7), Thomas (6), Maria (4) and Ethel (1). Their second son, William, was born the following year. The family was still living on Byron Street in 1901. Thomas was widowed although no registration of Martha's death has yet been traced. His son Thomas, a pony driver (colliery), and three daughters, Elizabeth, who was probably acting as the family's housekeeper, Maria a domestic servant and Ethel who was still at school, were still at home. The eldest daughter, Sarah had married John Taylor, a coal miner, in 1899 and they were also living in Kirkby in Ashfield. The youngest son, William, has not yet been traced on either the 1901 or 1911 Census, and nor has a registration of death. By 1911, Thomas snr. and his son Thomas were living with the second daughter Elizabeth Brown, her husband Joseph (m. 1902) and their three sons on Prospect Street, Kirkby in Ashfield. His youngest daughter Ethel had married James Carrington in 1909 and they and their young son were also living in Kirkby in Ashfield. Thomas snr., a retired miner, was living with another coal miner and his wife on Byron Street when the 1939 England & Wales Register was compiled. He died in 1943.
Chatham Bn Royal Marine Light Infantry. Formerly Sherwood Foresters transferred to RM ('Kitchener's Marines). Thomas Piper was admitted to Chatham Royal Naval Hospital after an incident in barracks on Christmas Eve 1914 in which he sustained a broken jaw. An operation proved necessary and Piper developed septic pneumonia from which he died on 9 January 1915. A fellow Marine was charged with manslaughter but was found 'not guilty' by the jury. (See 'Extra information'). Thomas was buried on 13 January 1915 in Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery, Kent (Naval. 13.672). Piper was one of 'Kitchener's Marines' who were transferred from the Sherwood Foresters to the RMLI. Des Turner notes '600 RMLI transfers came from 2 regiments - 200 from the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) and 400 from the Sherwood Foresters. They were predominantly ex-miners and labourers, fit men wanted for their ability to dig trenches and tunnels. The 200 KOYLI recruits were transferred to Plymouth Division RMLI and were given service numbers PLY/1(S) to PLY200(S). This was also the case for the Sherwood Foresters 200 who were dispatched to Portsmouth where already 30 men were recruited and so they became PO/31(S) to PO/230(S). 200 remaining Foresters went to Chatham and were numbered CH/1 to CH/200(S).' CWGC - History of Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemtery (extract): 'There is a large naval section in Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery which was reserved by the Admiralty and served the Royal Naval Hospital in Windmill Road. The section contains most of the war graves as well as burials of the pre-war and inter-war years ... In all, Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery contains 837 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 82 of the burials are unidentified and there are special memorials commemorating a number of casualties buried in other cemeteries in the area whose graves could not be maintained.' (www.cwgc.org)
There is a record of a William Piper (b. Kirkby) who served with the 10th Bn. Sherwood Foresters and was killed in action in France on 14 February 1916. The CWGC record named his father as Thomas Piper. William is commemorated on the Mansfield St Lawrence the Martyr parish memorial. (See record on this Roll of Honour) CWGC: 'Son of Mr. T. Piper, of 50, Prospect St., East Kirkby, Notts.' Exeter & Plymouth Gazette, 12 January 1915: An inquest was opened at Chatham yesterday on Private Thomas Piper of the Royal Marines. Death followed injuries, erysipelas having supervened. The Coroner said the deceased stated he had had a fall, but there were other representations. The inquiry was adjourned.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Note: 'Erysipelas' is a superficial form of cellulitis, a potentially serious bacterial infection affecting the skin. A fellow marine was tried for the manslaughter of Thomas; evidence was given at the trial that Thomas had died from septic pneumonia. Kent Messenger & Gravesend Telegraph, 6 January 1915: ‘Alleged manslaughter by a Royal Marine. A Coroner’s jury and the Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham, on Wednesday, returned a verdict of ‘Manslaughter’ against George Wilson, a private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, with respect to the death of a comrade named Thomas Piper. Deceased and Wilson, it was stated, left the Royal Marine Barracks together on Christmas Eve, and went into Chatham, where deceased took too much to drink. An altercation occurred between them, and it is alleged that Wilson struck deceased three deliberate blows under the jaw. Next morning deceased complained of feeling ill, and said he had knocked his jaw in a fall upstairs. It was discovered that his lower jaw was fractured, and he was sent to hospital. Subsequently an operation became necessary, and was followed by septic pneumonia, which proved fatal. Both deceased and Wilson were ‘Kitchener men.’ ‘ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Kent Messenger & Gravesend Telegraph, 20 February 1916: report of trial ‘Manslaughter Charge Fails. George Clark (33) soldier (sic), was indicted for ‘Feloniously killing and slaying’ Thomas Piper, at Chatham on December 24th … The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and prisoner was acquitted, no evidence being offered on a second charge of assault and occasioning bodily harm to Piper.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
