OWINS Thomas George

Thomas Owins enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 4th September 1916 at Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.  On his attestation paper he gave his place of birth as Worcester, England, his age as 38 years 3 months, his trade as a Carpenter and his next of kin as his wife, Ada Emily Owins.  There are a number of changes of address for Ada Owins.  Thomas had previous military service in the 2nd South Midland Brigade Volunteers.  He was 5 feet 4½ inches tall with a medium complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.

Thomas embarked at Melbourne on the “Medic” on 16th December 1916, arriving in Plymouth, England on 18th February 1917.  He proceeded overseas to France via Folkestone on 2nd July 1917 arriving in Havre on 3rd July.  On 15th September 1917 he was admitted to the 10th Australian Field Ambulance suffering from bronchitis. Discharged from hospital on 25th September 1917 he rejoined his battalion on 26th September where he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 12th November 1917.  After a spell of leave in England from 8th March to 3rd April 1918, he rejoined his battalion and was promoted to temporary Corporal on 5th April 1918.

Thomas was killed in action on 23rd June 1918 and he was initially buried in Austral British cemetery 4 and a half miles East South East of Amiens, France. His remains were exhumed and were re-interred at a later date in Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery.

Australian Service Records accessed via: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/
Reference: Barcode 8000354 Series Accession No B2455/1 Location: Canberra

A photograph of a Battery Sergeant Major T.G. Owins can be found in Berrow’s Worcester Journal Supplement, Saturday 16th September 1916, available at Worcestershire Archives.  This photograph MAY relate to this casualty.