Major
Thomas WEEDING
Infantry
Died: 26th August 1917 - Age: 38

Commemorated:

1. Grave:Coxyde Military CemeteryIII. C. 1.
2. Book:The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918Pg.138
3. Memorial:The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour26C/57D GQS
    

Awards & Titles:

 

Family :

Son of Thomas and Alice Weeding, of Kingthorpe, Addlestone, Surrey. Native of Malden, Surrey.

Education & Career :

Thomas followed his father to Marlborough (C1) from 1879 to 1897.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

Unit / Ship / Est.: 1/The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) 

1st Battalion August 1914 : in Bordon Camp. Part of 3rd Brigade, 1st Division. Landed at Le Havre 13 August 1914. 8 November 1914 : transferred to I Corps. 21 July 1915 : transferred to 5th Brigade, 2nd Division. 15 December 1915 : transferred to 100th Brigade, 33rd Division. 5 February 1918 : transferred to 19th Brigade, 33rd Division.

Action : The Battles of Ypres 1917 (Third Ypres, or Passchendaele) 

31 July - 10 November 1917. By the summer of 1917 the British Army was able for the first time to fight on its chosen ground on its terms. Having secured the southern ridges of Ypres at Messines in June, the main attack started on 31st July 1917 accompanied by what seemed like incessant heavy rain, which coupled with the artillery barrages conspired to turn much of the battlefield into a bog. Initial failure prompted changes in the high command and a strategy evolved to take the ring of ridges running across the Ypres salient in a series of 'bite and hold' operations, finally culminating in the capture of the most easterly ridge on which sat the infamous village of Passchendaele. The Official History carries the footnote ?The clerk power to investigate the exact losses was not available? but estimates of British casualties range from the official figure of 244,000 to almost 400,000. Within five months the Germans pushed the British back to the starting line, which was where they had been since May 1915.

Major THOMAS WEEDING, Royal West Surrey Regiment, who was killed on August 26th, was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Weeding Weeding, of Kingthorpe, Addlestone, Surrey. His brother, Second Lieutenant J. R. B. Weeding, was killed on December 22nd, 1914. Born in 1879, he was educated at Marlborough College and passed through Sandhurst, being gazetted to the 1st Battalion of the Queen's, then in India, where he spent eight years. He was a keen polo player and a'very good shot. He was among the first 100 officers to learn to fly, but had to rejoin his regiment in Bermuda before the R.F.C. was formed. He came back from Africa at the beginning of the war, and went through all the heavy fighting near Ypres in October, 1914, being Wounded on the 31st. He was again Wounded on September 30th, 1915, so seriously that he Was unable to go out again till December, 1916. On August 26th, as he was riding up to the front, a shell burst near him, and he and his horse were killed instantaneously. Thomas Weeding was born in New Malden Surrey, receiving his commission in 1899 and rising to the rank of Major with the 1st Btn Queens Royal West Surrey Rgt (QRWS). Thomas was a Freemason and a member of two lodges, Studholme Lodge, number 1519 and Old Marlburian Lodge, number 3533. At the start of the great war, in August 1914 Thomas and the 1st Btn QRWS were at Borden Camp as part of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division but in November they were transfered to I Corps. In July 1915, they became part of the 2nd Division of the 5th Brigade and took part in the Battle of Loos (The Big Push) in North East France, which was the first time that the British Army used gas as a weapon. By the end of December 1915 another unit transfer saw the 1st Bn QRWS(with Thomas) transfered to 100th Brigade, 33rd Division. This transfer took Thomas to the Somme in the summer of 1916 and then to the batttle of Passchendaele in 1917. Thomas died on 26th August 1917, aged 38, and is buried in Coxyde Military Cemetery, which was approximately 7 miles behind the front line, south of Nieuport, Belgium. Sources; Website Great War Dead of Addlestone Surrey; http://www.addlestonegreatwardead.com/thomasweeding.htm Flight; 6 September 1917

Masonic :

TypeLodge Name and No.Province/District :
Mother : United Studholme Alliance No. 1591 E.C.London
Joined : Old Marlburian No. 3533 E.C. London

Initiated
Passed
Raised
25th March 1904
27th May 1904
15th July 1904
 

Thomas (junior) joined Old Malburian, recorded as a Captain, Queens Regiment based in Gibraltar from Studholme Lodge No. 1591, 20th December 1911. Heading the register of the Old Malburian Lodge No. 3533, his father appears as the Founding Master and as Past Grand Deacon, until at least 1921.

Source :

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Additional Source:

Last Updated: 2020-12-24 22:30:47