Tommy Egdell died of wounds on this day in 1917.
Born in Alnwick, Northumberland 27 November 1877, Tommy Egdell was one of ten children of Robert (a labourer) and Thomasina (née Blyth) of New Row, Alnwick, Northumberland. Five boys and five girls were born between 1875 and 1901.
Tommy married Alice Allan in July 1900. At the 1901 Census he was an engine driver in a stone quarry.
Before the war they lived in at 277, Maypole Street, Ashington where Tommy was a miner. They had a son, Edward, born 1904.
Tommy enlisted in the Northumberland Fusiliers 2 September 1914. He was transferred to RNVR (Hood Battalion) 7 September 1914 and served in Antwerp then with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force later serving at Passchendaele.
Tommy was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for action at Grancourt 3-5 February 1917. He was reported as missing in action on 22 September 1917, but it later transpired that wounded, he had been taken prisoner. He died of his wounds on 24 September 1917. He was buried by the Germans in Petit Cuincy German Cemetery but postwar, his grave was removed to Douai British Cemetery, Cuincy.
Tommy was one of four sons his family to die during the First World War:
- Lance-Corporal Edward Walker Egdell (1881 to 1916) Died during the Battle of the Somme.
- Captain John Egdell (1884 to 1917) Died during the Battle of Passchendaele.
- Private David James Blythe Egdell (1881 to 1918) Died on the Somme.
His brother George Egdell served and survived. He was wounded on 26 April 1915.
Petty Officer (Acting) Tommy Egdell, DCM
24 September 1917
Thomas Egdell's mother Thomasina lost her husband, who died from natural causes, in July 1914. Her son, George, was wounded in 1915 (but would survive the war) but she then lost her remaining sons to the war.
iSources: England Census 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911; UK Citations of the Distinguished Medal; Bailiffgate collection