Thomas enlisted in the British army one day before his elder brother, on the 22th of January 1900. He was only 18 years old at the time he joined the Royal Irish Regiment. His military history is as follows:- Home: 22/1/1900 - 22/7/1901 (1 yr, 182 days)
- South Africa: 23/7/1901 - 18/11/1903 (2 yrs, 119 days)
- Home: 19/11/1903 - 20/11/1903 (2 days)
- Army Reserve: 21/11/1903 - 21/1/1912 (8 yrs, 62 days)
- Army Reserve: 22/1/1912 - 5/8/1914 (2 yrs, 196 days)
- Home: 6/8/1918 - 12/8/1914 (7 days)
- BEF*: 13/8/1914 - 9/10/1914 (58 days) *British Expeditionary Force
- Home: 10/10/1914 - 20/2/1916 (1 yr, 134 days)
- BEF: 21/2/1916 - 10/7/1916 (140 days)
- Home: 11/7/1916 - ///////1917 (1 yr, 108 days)
At the time of his discharge he had completed almost 18 years in military service. The army was moblilised for war on the 6th August 1911 and posted on the 8th. During his first outing with the BEF he was part of the 3rd battalion, and for the second posting he was part of the 2nd battalion.
In the previous post I mentioned that the Royal Irish Regiment were virtually decimated at Le Pilly during the Battle of La Bassée, most were taken as POW's (this occurred the day after Christy was wounded and evacuated). After this the regiment was transferred to various division but on 19th May (when Thomas was back with the BEF in France) the Royal Irish Regiment was transferred to the 22nd Brigade, 7th Division and remained there until October.The 7th division was a regular Army division that was formed by combining battalions returning from outposts of the British Empire at the outbreak of WWI. Unlike the first 6 regular divisions of the BEF, a third of whose strength was made up of regular reservists, the 7th division was composed entirely of serving regulars, which gave rise to it's nickname The Immortal Seven.
The 22nd Brigade was involved in the Battle of Albert, 1st - 13th July 1916. This was the first of the battles which composed the Battle of the Somme which lasted until November of that year. The Battle of Albert is of particulier importance as I believe this was where Thomas was serving at the time.
The result of faulty British planning and the tactics and German preparedness was that the first day of the attack consistuted a major German victory on most of the front which the British attacked. The British army suffered its highest-ever casualty rate in a single day, in return for a modest advance on the extreme right where it captured and held Mametz and Montauban.
Thomas's military records state that he was wounded in the leg on the 5th July 1916, four days after the battle began. We know that he returned home and have records for his admittance to hospital:
- Dublin, 25 September 1917: Here he spent 3 days in hospital for TB. The remarks are difficult to read but we can make out that there was evidence of a decrease of left apex (lung?), and also that his gunshot wound received the previous year had still not quite healed.
- Curragh, 27 September 1917: (The Curragh Camp was a divisional headquaters for the British Army and trained Irish soldiers) Here we see he still has pulmonary problems, along with laryngitis, and his gunshot wound is still healing.
He was formally discharged from the army on the 26th October 1917. His character was described as very good and he received the South African medal. The cause of discharge was that he was no longer physically fit for service due to tubercle of the lung attributed to service. Recommended was further treatment in a Sanatorium for his tuberculosis.
Before the outbreak of war, Thomas married Eliza Byrne in 1907. They had six children in total:- Thomas Joseph b. 31/3/1907
- John b. 1/7/1909
- Mary Brigid b. 10/7/1911
- Michael b. 31/10/1913
- Christopher b. 9/1/1916
- Nora b. 18/4/1918
His illness was obviously too great because he passed away on the 17th March 1919. The final page of his Pension Records is especially poignant:
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It is too easy to overlook the contribution of Thomas Whelan and countless other soldiers like him. He doesn't appear on lists of soldier's who fell during the war, nor would his name appear on war memorials. Yet he contracted his illness in France in 1914 and received his gunshot wound in 1916. The fact that he died in 1919 after the war ended does not mean that he shouldn't be counted among the casualties of war.
Thomas and Christopher Whelan were true heroes. Thomas lost his life for what he believed in, and left a wife and six children behind them. Christopher knew great loss as a result of the war effort. He lost his brother, most of his regiment, and a part of his hand. With the 100 year anniversary of the start of WWI fast approaching, I am proud to be able to share their story and the pride I feel to be related to them.
