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Pte. Thomas Sheldon
British Army 6th Btn. Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment
from:Cudham, Kent
(d.8th Jan 1916)
Thomas Sheldon married Alice Bateman on 7th of August 1909 and moved to Hillcrest Road in Biggin Hill some time before 1911 and Thomas was employed as a farm laborer.Thomas and Alice had six children together, Alice Sophia (1909), Thomas (1910), Arthur (1910), Helen Kate (1911), Sidney (1912), and Annie (1914).
When the war started in 1914, Thomas joined the army as a private in the 6th Battalion of the Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment). He sent postcards from the front and one postcard sent to his daughter Helen, dated 28th of December 1915, was from the town of Vermelles close to the France-Belgium border. The message on the card was simply "from Daddy". Vermelles was a coal mining town and was the site of many battles. Thomas was part of the defense and not long after sending the postcard to Helen, he was seriously injured in battle and was taken to Bethune, a hospital and railway town near to Vermelles. He died of his wounds on 8th of January 1916 and is buried in the Bethune Town Cemetery.
