Name:
Nationality: Rank: Regiment: Age: Born : Date of Death: Additional information: Marital status : Schooling: Occupation : Awards : Cemetery : |
Teare Thomas William
British Private 1st Bn. Northumberland Fusiliers 1882 , Liverpool 8 november 1914 Eldest child of George and Sarah Teare Working in the cardoom at Park Mill Ypres Menin Gate Memorial Panel 8 and 12 |
Military Footsteps
1914 13 august 1914 8 november 1914 |
When war broke out, as a reservist, he was immediately called back to the colours. He would first have had to travel to the regimental depot in Newcastle and then all the way down to Portsmouth to the regiment's 1st Battalion (the other regular battalion, the 2nd, was still in India). They set sail from Portsmouth along with the 1st Lincolnshires on board the dangerously overcrowded SS Norman. Thankfully all arrived safely in Le Havre the following day. Killed in action There was intermittent shell and rifle fire directed at the men until at 17:30 the Germans left their trenches and charged at Thomas Teare and his comrades. |

SS Norman
Military Footsteps
17 march 1894 1 december 1897 7 january 1900 1904 8 april 1905 6 september 1909 19 february 1913 5 august 1914 16 september 1914 14 december 1914 |
Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (Militia) He received a regular commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Suffolk Regiment and joined his battalion in Malta. Promoted to Lieutenant Took part in the South African War in which he was employed in the mounted infantry and was present at operations in the Transvaal, Orange River Colony, including action at Colesberg. He received the Queen's Medal with three clasps and the King's medal with two clasps. After the Boer War Arthur was seconded for service in Somaliland with the King's African Rifles. He was known as a fine shot and collected many animal trophies during his time in Africa. Returned from Africa Commissioned as a Captain and posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolks which was then in India. He was appointed as Adjutant of the newly formed Territorial 5th Battalion of his regiment He retired from the active list to the Reserve of Officers with the rank of Captain Following the outbreak of war Arthur was mobilised once more and reported for war service at the depot of his old regiment in Bury St Edmunds where he was initially attached to the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion which was then at Felixstowe serving in a home defence role. Was in command of the sea defence section, in which role he helped rescue the crew of an aeroplane which came down about a mile offshore. The Suffolk Regiment’s battalions in France meanwhile sustained heavy casualties, and he was attached to the 2nd Battalion and sent to France where he joined the battalion in the field at Missy-sur-Aisne and took immediate command until the 21st of September. The battalion was in support of a successful attack on Petit Bois. At 4.30pm they moved forward and relieved the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots in the captured trench and it was here, twenty minutes after the relief, that Arthur Temple was shot through the head, falling into the arms of his servant Robert George Girbow, who was himself shot and killed by a sniper in the same place the following day. Private Edwin Catchpole from his battalion wrote the following to Arthur Temple's family following his death and his letter was published in the East Anglian Daily Times:- "We have just come out of a terrible battle; I shall never forget it, but want to as soon as possible. I would like to let the Suffolk people know what our late Captain was to his Company. It was on Monday December 14th that we went in support of the Gordons and Royal Scots who charged the German trenches. We strengthened the positions on the right, the Middlesex on the left. The charge was successful, the Germans being driven into a wood in the rear of their trenches, making the latter very dangerous and exposed. Our regiment relieved the Gordons and Royal Scots after the charge, and we had to withstand several charges of the Germans to get the trenches back again, but they found the task beyond their power. It was in these trenches that we lost our beloved Captain - Captain Temple. He was loved and respected by all, those who served with him in South Africa, also in this campaign. The kindness he showed to our company when they came from the trenches, sodden wet through, giving us new socks and other articles of clothing which his wife had sent out to him for his company, we shall never forget. I have seen him when meeting refugees put his hand in his pocket and assist them; no one knew what he gave; he did not believe in show. A shell burst in the trenches in which I was lying, and the Captain came up and enquired if anyone was hurt. His cheery remarks always gave us inspiration, and when the word was passed round that he was wounded, and subsequently that he had died, there was grief among all-officers and men. He was fearless, brave and selfsacrificing under all conditions, and was never satisfied until he had done his very best for all. He will be missed by all who came in contact with him". The Isle of Wight County Press wrote in their edition of the 26th of December 1914: - "He had gained the highest respect and esteem of everyone in the parish and his devoted work in connection with the church was very greatly appreciated. Since the death of Mr. Matthew Saunders he had ably discharged the duties of Vicar's warden, and his loss will be keenly felt by the church." Arthur was mentioned posthumously in Sir John French's despatches of the 14th of January 1915. The Regimental Gazette of 1916 noted that Captain Temple's grave lies in a meadow near Kemmel and was 'marked by a wooden cross, with his name, Regiment and rank' . Unfortunately his grave was one of many subsequently lost during the heavy fighting around Ypres |

King's School , Canterbury