DOWDESWELL Thomas

Thomas Dowdeswell appears in two entries in Tibberton School logbook:
21st October 1887 Several elder children kept home to work.  Thomas Dowdeswell neither qualified by age or standard is kept away and working for a farmer.

10th February 1888 Thomas Dowdeswell is very irregular.  Not entitled by age or standard to leave school.

On the 1891 census Thomas, aged 15 is resident at home, Fordraught Farm, Tibberton with his parents, Thomas and Harriet and his siblings, Joseph aged 14, Julia aged 12, Charles aged 10, Fanny, aged 9, Sidney, aged 7, Ada aged 5, Rose E. aged 2 and Reuben aged 7 months.

1911 Census
Perdiswell Cottages, Droitwich Road near Worcester
Thomas Dowdeswell, head, age 35, horsekeeper, born Tibberton, Worcestershire
Alice Dowdeswell, wife, age 25, married 5 years, 3 children, all still living, born Claines, Worcestershire
Leonard Charles Dowdeswell, son, age 4, born Claines, Worcestershire
Thomas William Dowdeswell, son, age 2, born Claines, Worcestershire
Marjorie Dowdeswell, daughter, age 4 months, born Claines, Worcestershire

Thomas Dowdeswell enlisted in the 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment on 13th December 1893 at Worcester. On his attestation paper he gave his place of birth as Tibberton, Worcester, Worcestershire, his age as 18 years 4 months and his occupation as a labourer. He was employed by Mr Lane in Birmingham. records show his period of service as from 13th December 1893 to 29th January 1895. On 30th January 1895, Thomas re-enlisted at the age of 19 years and 5 months for a further 7 years service with the regiment. He saw service in South Africa from 1900 to 1902 for which he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal and clasps Wittebergen, Cape Colony and Transvaal and the Kings South African Medal and clasps 1901 to 1902. Thomas was transferred to the army reserve on 30th January 1903 and attested for the army reserve again on 13th July 1907. On 26th August 1914 at the age of 39 years, Thomas was attested at Worcester for a further years service with the Worcestershire Regiment. Commencing as a Private on that date, he was made a Corporal on 14th September 1914 rising to a Sergeant on 24th February 1915. He was posted to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in 1916 and killed in action on 24th – 25th April 1917.

The following report appears in the Kidderminster Times, 9th June 1917:
Sergeant Thomas Dowdeswell, 9367, 11th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. Killed in action at Salonika on 25th April. He was a Reservist; fought through the South African War and prior to rejoining worked as a Roadman for the County Council. The report includes a photograph of Thomas Dowdeswell.

A photograph of Sergeant T. Dowdeswell of Claines can be found in Berrow’s Worcester Journal Supplement, Saturday 26th May 1917, available at Worcestershire Archives.