William Ewart Thornber WW1 Medal

[ellenbrora]

Hi Everyone.

My friend is in possession of a WW1 medal which does not belong to her family, so we want to try to get it to its rightful owners/descendants. We have no idea of any connection to my friend's family, so will give none of those details for now as probably irrelevant.

The medal is 1914-1918 Victory Medal inscribed: W E Thornber 267325 Ches.R.

I now have the Medal Card from A******y - gives a little more detail:  christian name (s) William.E. and an additional service no: 470932, Labour Corps. There is no 1914 or 1915 Star, so likely that he served from 1916 or later.

I also have the medal roll, which gives his christian names as William Ewart (surname still Thornber). No sign of anything on CWGC, so looks likely he survived the war.

Have also done a check on Forces War Records with no obvious results.

So far so good.

I can find only 2 births of William Ewart Thornbers in England/Wales of an age to have served.

A) William Ewart Thornber, b.Sep Qtr 1896 Burnley, son of Wilfred E E Thornber and his wife Emma Wilkinson.
I don't think this is the chappie, as it looks as though he is the one who served in the Royal Marines, service no 955, who signed up 20 July 1915. His birth date of 08 July 1896 is two days out (should be 10 July) on the Marines record from F*P, but it gives next of kin as mother Emma, so it looks like him.

B) William Ewart Thornber, b. Jun Qtr 1876 Burnley, son of Caleb Thornber and his wife Martha Ingham. There is no evidence as yet that this is NOT the guy, BUT, he is from a prominent and wealthy family. His father Caleb was Mayor of Burnley twice, and bequeathed the cash for Burnley War Memorial and various Trusts in the town. This William Ewart Thornber died on 21 Mar 1923 and left over £118,000 in his will. His youngest sister was married to a Lt Col Cecil Gustaves Bradley, DSO. It seems highly unlikely therefore that William (who was also a married man with a child and approaching 40 years of age) would have served as a private in the war.

All thoughts on progress so far very welcome.

I think I'm going to have to start on all the William E Thornber and William Thornber births - of which there are a substantial number!

All help to get this medal home would be appreciated.  (I'm from the north of Scotland btw, so not   local to Lancashire/Cheshire)

Ellen

[km1971]

Hi Ellen

Another William Thornber from Burnley. Enlisted in Medical Staff Corps in 1898, aged 19. Served until 1914 before WW1. Previous service as a Volunteer. Married Maggie Kershaw (?) in 1909. Father is Thomas of Cobden Street, mother Jane.

Highest rank was First Class orderly. Service record is on FindMyPast

Ken

[ShaunJ]

A number of sons of the prominent Thornber families of Burnley served as private soldiers. Looking at the Burnley newpapers of the time, there are these headlines in 1916:

BURNLEY COTTON MANUFACTURER KILLED. That was Private Thomas Thornber (son of the late Alderman of the same name)

BURNLEY MANUFACTURER'S SON SLIGHTLY WOUNDED WHILE IN TRENCHES. That was Private James Thornber, son of Luke Thornber

[ellenbrora]

Thanks guys, more to ponder.  Interesting that some of the manufacturing Thornbers did serve in the ranks. I'm still a bit sceptical that a nearly 40 year old married man with a child and a relatively wealthy background would do so, but would be happy to be proved wrong 

Cheers

Ellen

[km1971]

There are a few Labour Corps experts on the great war Forum who may be able to tell you when he transferred to the Labour corps. Normally the inscription on the Victory and War medals are as of 11 November 1918. So he may have transferred to the LC after fighting had stopped.

His Cheshire Regiment number is in the block allocated to the 6th Battalion. You should find their war diary online. the block started at 265001, so again that is a late number. a large number of 11th Battalion Cheshires transferred to the 6th Bn in June 1918. But without his service record this can only be guess work.

Ken

[ellenbrora]

Thanks Ken. Will get onto the Great War Forum.

Ellen

[mmm45]

http://www.burnleyinthegreatwar.info/burnleyservedindex.htm

great site for Burnley and great war list of names non link above.

Ady

[ellenbrora]

Thanks for that Ady. No sign of this chap on there. Wonder if that means that he was not from Burnley after all. Have you any idea of how comprehensive this list is? It does appear to pretty much so!

Cheers

Ellen

[forester]

Ellen,

The Labour Corps number 470932 was issued in the period October 1917 to January 1918.
That, I'm afraid, is as much info as you will glean from it.

Phil