Thomas Calvert

Thomas Calvert was due for conscription in 1917. He was the only son left in the household. He was working at the Norris & Hewitt's lace factory when he was called to attend a Military Tribunal. The following account appeared in the Beeston Gazette & West Notts Echo: 'Twisthand's Appeal Fails Mr Norris of Messrs Norris and Hewitt appealed on behalf of one of his twist-hands named Thomas Calvert, on the grounds that he was making goods for the export trade. The thirty two year old also appealed on his own behalf; having lost his younger brother John who died in Mesoptamia, he was now the sole support of his sixty-two year old widowed mother whose husband had died some nine years previously.' Both appeals were unsuccessful however and Thomas Calvert was conscripted into the army. The following is a description taken from a History of the 10th Battalion Sherwood Foresters 1914-1918 by Cliff Housley. 'During the night of the 15/16th April 1918, the 10th Battalion Sherwood Foresters relieved the 4th Bedfordshire Regiment. The actual front included about 600 yards of Aveluy Wood and 200yards of railway. The enemy artillery was very active on the night of the 16th, and thereafter concentrated on the high ground to the east of Mesnil. The men were soon engaged in deepening and strengthening the position and, at the same time, they also completed the digging of the support line. The enemy artillery was stepping up its activity by both day and night and the battalion began to suffer heavy casualties.' Private Thomas Calvert was one of the men missing presumed killed during this enemy action. He is commemorated on the memorial to the missing in Poziers British Cemetery.

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