Thomas Joyce likeness

Thomas Joyce cap badgePrivate Thomas Joyce

18th Battalion Australian Infantry, 5th Australian Brigade, Australian Imperial Forces
Service No: 4163

Thomas Joyce grave

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Personal details

Family Information

Son of Tobias and Mary Garrity Joyce. Husband of Jane Joyce of 15 Jackson St, Coatbridge. Thomas' elder brother Patrick was in the Royal Scots Fusiliers and his younger brother William was in the Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons). Both resided at Miller St, Coatbridge. From the 1891 Census - Address - 5 Watson Place, Coatbridge - Tobias Joyce aged 36, Mary Joyce aged 36, John Joyce aged 10, Patrick Joyce aged 9, Maggie Joyce aged 7, Thomas Joyce aged 5, Michael Joyce aged 1. From the 1901 Census - Address - 75 Coatbank St, Coatbridge - Tobias Joyce aged 48, Mary Joyce aged 43, John Joyce aged 21, Patrick Joyce aged 19, Maggie Joyce aged 17, Thomas Joyce aged 15, Annie Joyce aged 8, Michael Joyce aged 11, William Joyce aged 5, Redmond Joyce aged 2. Thomas' next of kin was originally his younger sister Annie of 2 Miller St, Coatbridge. It then became his wife Jane.

Born / Resided

Coatbridge / Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia.

Died

Killed in Action on the 08/11/1916 at Le Sars, Somme

Enlisted

Cootamundra, New South Wales 27/09/1915

Employed

Labourer previously Puddler in an Iron Works in Coatbridge (as were his father Tobias and his brothers John and Patrick).

Age

30 / DOB - 10/11/1885

Buried / Remembered

Warlencourt British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France

Cemetery / Memorial Information

Warlencourt, the Butte de Warlencourt and Eaucourt-L'Abbaye were the scene of very fierce fighting in 1916. Eaucourt was taken by the 47th (London) Division early in October. The Butte (a Roman mound of excavated chalk, about 17 metres high, once covered with pines) was attacked by that and other divisions, but it was not relinquished by the Germans until the following 26 February, when they withdrew to the Hindenburg Line. The 51st (Highland) Division fought a delaying action here on 25 March 1918 during the great German advance, and the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division recaptured the ground on 25 August 1918. The cemetery was made late in 1919 when graves were brought in from small cemeteries and the battlefields of Warlencourt and Le Sars. The cemetery now contains 3,505 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,823 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 55 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 15 casualties buried in Hexham Road Cemetery, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

Additional Information

The 18th Battalion were part of the 5th Australian Brigade, 2nd Australian Division. Thomas went to Australia aged 29. His wife did not know of his address for the Australian Memorial. The address given by them is Australian Hotel, Cootamundra, New South Wales. Thomas embarked from Sydney with the 10th Reinforcements onboard HMAT A15 Star of England on the 08/03/1916. In September 1916 he passed through England en route to France and arrived at the front near Etaples on the 23/09/1916. He joined his Battalion "in the field" that day and was Killed in Action just 46 days later, 2 days before his 31st birthday. After further training in Egypt, the 18th Battalion proceeded to France. Landing there on the 25th March 1916, it took part in its first major battle at Pozieres between the 25th July and 5th August. The Battalion returned to the Pozieres trenches for a second time in late August. After a spell in a quieter sector of the front in Belgium, the 2nd Division including the 5th Brigade, came south again in October. The 18th Battalion was spared from having to mount an attack across the quagmire that the Somme battlefield had become, but did have to continue manning the front through a very bleak winter. SEE PHOTOS x 17 FOR THE 18th BATTALION WAR DIARY 23/09/1916 - 12th NOVEMBER 1916. The War Diary states - "8th November 1916, FRONT LINE : Mud + Mud. Rain continues. Men cannot stand still for long in one place without sinking up to their knees. Rations arrived but it was only with great difficulty they could be carried up. Enemy shelling still more severe both on front trenches and on Trunk Lane to Sunken Road. Our men silenced one sniper. Lt. O'Donnell wounded. One Lewis gun blown out by shell fire and two Gunners Killed, one Wounded". Thomas is also remembered on the St. Patrick's Church Roll of Honour along with his brothers Patrick and William. See photos for Thomas' CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, his Reburial form, Warlencourt British Cemetery, Thomas' Service Records x 24, his forms required for the Roll of Honour of Australia in the Memorial War Museum x 2 and the Australian Imperial Forces Cap Badge. Thomas' grave inscription reads "TO MEMORY EVER DEAR ON WHOSE SOUL SWEET JESUS HAVE MERCY R.I.P".

Photos
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War Diaries

The battalion War Diary is available on the National Archives website.

Creative Commons License

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