Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"No Inquest Into Man's Death At Birkenhead

The City Coroner has decided that no inquest is necessary into the death of Thomas Gomer Winstone, 56, who died suddenly at his home, Elder road, Birkenhead, on Sunday morning. Winstone was found dead in his bed by his wife. Constable J. E. Allen, of Largs Bay, prepared the report for the Coroner..." - from the Adelaide Advertiser 17 Nov 1936 (nla.gov.au)

Thomas was the son of Thomas William WINSTONE & Elizabeth DAVIES and was born on the 7th of April 1880 in Dale Street, Pt Adelaide, SA.

His parents were married on the 24th of March 1878 in Adelaide, SA.

His father was the son of Thomas William & Mary WINSTONE and was born in 1825.
His mother was the daughter of Thomas & Margaret DAVIES and was born in 1859 in Wales.

Thomas was the second child born into this family of 11 children.

His father had arrived in South Australia with his parents and siblings on board the Sea Park on the 12th of December 1852.

His mother had arrived in South Australia on board the Lochee on the 28th of January 1877 as a 16 year old domestic servant.

The family lived in Dale Street, Pt Adelaide and in 1883 moved to Balhannah for 12 months before moving back to Pt Adelaide.
They then moved to Newcastle, NSW for 3 years before returning to Dale Street, Pt Adelaide in 1897.

The following year his father deserted the family and went to Western Australia.

By 1906 Thomas had moved to Newcastle where he joined the Newcastle Company of the Australian Garrison Artillery at Fort Scratchley.

His mother then married Friedrich Christian LAWA on the 22nd of November 1909 in Semaphore. Friedrich was born in 1862 in Hamburg, Germany.

Thomas married Ethel Maud WATERMAN married on the 1910 in Newcastle, NSW.
Ethel was the daughter of Alfred Ernest WATERMAN & Emily Jane AMBRAS and was born on the 17th of August 1883 in Corlette Street, Cook’s Hill, Newcastle, NSW.
Ethel already had a 4 year old son; Thomas Alfred WATERMAN (DE VAL), born on the 26th of August 1906 in Newcastle, NSW, so Thomas became an instant father.

After they married they returned to South Australia where they made their first home at Clare Street, Portland and Thomas gained employment as a wharf labourer.
They welcomed Freda Evelyn Dorothy into the family in 1911, but sadly little Freda died on the 7th of January 1912.

Mavis Doreen was then born on the 26th of August 1914.

At the age of 35, Thomas enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 9th of June 1915 in Keswick and allotted the service number 2974 and posted to H Group, Base Infantry in Mitcham Camp.

On the 1st of July he was transferred to the 10th Battalion, 9th Reinforcements and on the 22nd of July his brother; William enlisted into the newly raised 30th Battalion, B Company (559).

When Thomas embarked for overseas, Ethel moved back to her parents at Corlette Street, Cook’s Hill, Newcastle.

Thomas embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT A15 Star of England on the 21st of September 1915, disembarked in Egypt and marched into Mena Camp, near Cairo, close to the Giza Pyramids.
After a further few weeks training in the desert, they entrained at Cairo for Alexandria and embarked for the Dardanelles, via Mudros in mid November.

Thomas disembarked at Mudros and received the news of the withdrawal, which now meant he wasn’t going to the Peninsula. Instead, he waited for his Battalion in Sarpi Camp and they returned to Alexandria.

Back in Australia his other brother; Watkin, enlisted into the 4th Tunnelling Company on the 16th of February 1916 (4135).

Thomas served in France where he was wounded twice, broke his leg and suffered a scaled foot before being evacuated to England.

Thomas embarked from England on board HS Beltana on the 18th of October 1917, disembarked in Melbourne on the 11th of December and entrained to Adelaide the following day.

He rejoined his wife and young family at Clare Street, Portland and was discharged, medically unfit, from the AIF on the 30th of January 1918.

They then moved to 25 Elder Road, Birkenhead where Norma Blodwyn was born in 1921, followed by Patricia Sylvaine on the 5th of November 1924 and Thomas was employed as a labourer.

On the 4th of December 1928 his step-son Thomas enlisted into the RAN.

In early 1935 Thomas collapsed on the Ferry ramp at Pt Adelaide and was admitted into the Adelaide Hospital for 5 weeks suffering from heart trouble and blood pressure.
When he was released from hospital the doctors advised Thomas to apply for the Invalid Pension, which was granted, but then he was granted the War Pension.
In early 1936 Thomas had another turn and was admitted into the Adelaide Hospital and granted Ethel an open order to take Thomas to the hospital if he had another turn.

On the 22nd of June 1936 Thomas was admitted into the Adelaide Hospital for 5 weeks suffering from heart trouble.
When he was discharged from hospital he was advised to stay in bed for a further month, except for getting up for 1 hour each day.

On Saturday night the 14th of November 1936 Thomas and Ethel went to bed at 10:30pm. They both slept in the same room but Thomas slept on the single bed and Ethel slept in the double bed.

At 4am the following day Ethel heard Thomas make a noise as if he was snoring. She asked if he was alright, he never answered but Ethel could hear him breathing and she thought he had gone off to sleep again.
Ethel got up at 7:30am and spoke to Thomas, but he never answered, so she put the blind up and on feeling his forehead she found he was cool and she now saw that something was wrong.

Ethel went across the road to their niece, Mrs Smyth, but when they returned they could see that Thomas had passed away.
The doctor was called and after examining Thomas concluded that he died of natural causes.

Thomas died suddenly on the 15th of November 1936 at his home, 25 Elder Road, Birkenhead and was buried the following day in the Cheltenham Cemetery; Section BX, Drive A, Path 6, Site Number 181S.

"No Inquest into Man's Death At Birkenhead”
The City Coroner has decided that no inquest is necessary into the death of Thomas Gomer Winstone, 56, who died suddenly at his home, Elder road, Birkenhead, on Sunday morning. Winstone was found dead in his bed by his wife. Constable J. E. Allen, of Largs Bay, prepared the report for the Coroner..." -

Ethel died on the 16th of October 1962 in Sydney.

Military

At the age of 35, Thomas enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 9th of June 1915 in Keswick and allotted the service number 2974 and posted to H Group, Base Infantry in Mitcham Camp.
He listed his wife, of Clare Street, Portland, SA, as his next of kin.

On the 1st of July he was transferred to the 10th Battalion, 9th Reinforcements.

Thomas embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT A15 Star of England on the 21st of September 1915, disembarked in Egypt and marched into Mena Camp, near Cairo, close to the Giza Pyramids.
After a further few weeks training in the desert, they entrained at Cairo for Alexandria and embarked for the Dardanelles, via Mudros in mid November.

About the same time, since the main objective had failed, the question arose as to whether the force of 100,000 men on Gallipoli were containing enough Turks to justify remaining on the Peninsula. It was decided that they were not and the blizzard towards the end on November hastened the preparations for withdrawal.

Thomas disembarked at Mudros and received the news of the withdrawal, which now meant he wasn’t going to the Peninsula.
Instead, he waited for his Battalion in Sarpi Camp.

On the 20th of November the 10th Battalion received orders to move to the beach via Shrapnel & Rest Gully for embarkation.
At 12:30am they began to embark, sailed at 6am on the 21st of November, and arrived in Mudros Harbour at 12:30pm, disembarked and marched to Sarpi Camp.

Four days later Thomas was taken on strength with the 10th Battalion at Sarpi Camp and then the blizzard that had caused so many casualties on Gallipoli arrived at Mudros.
They spent Christmas 1915 here and the following day the embarked for Alexandria on board HMAT Seang Bee, disembarked 3 days later and entrained to Tel-el-Kebir.

Towards the end of January, after having spent the time in resting, reorganising and training, they proceeded to the Suez Canal Defences at Habieta, where they spent nearly 2 months in an outpost system digging trenches that filled in often as fast as they were dug.
It was here that the Battalions of the 3rd Division were split to form the new 4th Division, with each Battalion sending 500 men.
The sister Battalion to the 10th was the 50th Battalion, however, Thomas remained with the 10th Battalion.

Despite this drain on its strength the 10th Battalion was soon at full strength again and on the 28th of March they embarked from Alexandria on board HMT Saxonia and disembarked in Marseilles on the 2nd of April.
They were then entrained for 3 days through some of the most beautiful parts of France, a revelation in freshness and beauty after the barren plains of Egypt, and they billeted in the vicinity of Strazeele.
Here they spent time in training and instruction in the new kind of gas helmet and after 2 weeks they moved to Sailly on the 20th of April and into billets at Rouge-de-Bout.

Five days later was the anniversary of the Gallipoli landing and the men of the Battalion struggled with memories both pleasant and otherwise.
On the 14th of May Thomas suffered from the Mumps and was transferred to the 7th General Hospital in St Omer.
He remained here for 3 weeks before he was fit enough to joined his Battalion and he then rejoined his Battalion on the 6th of June at Rouge-de-Bout.

That same night they moved into the Petillion Sector and went into the front line in France for the first time.
They remained here for the rest of the month and twice during their time here the gas alarms sounded, but fortunately no gas came. Though at times the artillery fire on both sides was fairly heavy, the sector was a quiet one and they only received 25 casualties for the month.
They were relieved on the 28th of June and marched via Le Verrie and Oultersteen to billets near Moolenacker, where they began training.

On the 9th of July they marched to Mont des Cats and the following day they marched 2 miles to the Godewaersvelde railway station and entrained to Doullens, which they reached on the 11th.
They then marched 11 miles though Candas, Montrelet and Canaples to Halloy and the following day they marched 4 miles to Naours.
Here they trained for 4 days and then moved to Herissart for 2 days and then marched through Forceville to Albert.

On the 20th of July they marched to Sausage Valley and 2 days later they moved through Black Watch Alley to support the 9th Battalion in the attack on Pozieres.
On the morning of the 23rd the 9th Battalion met strong opposition and the 10th Battalion was sent to assist under machine gun fire.

After 3 days without sleep and without food, apart from what they carried, the firing around them was deafening and unbearable.
The trenches had now become mere shell holes of churned and beaten soil.
Buried, dug out, gassed and tired they continued until the 24th of July when Thomas suffered a Gun Shot Wound to his arm and was admitted into the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station at Puchevillers.

The following day he was transferred to the 7th Canadian General Hospital in Etaples where he spent 6 days before being discharged to the 1st ADBD (Australian Division Base Depot) in Etaples on the 1st of August.
On the 25th of August Thomas rejoined his Battalion in Kenora Camp, near Poperinghe, in training.
Eight day later they moved to Ottavya Camp and then to Hill 60 where they spent all of September in the forward area.
They were relieved on the 1st of October and entrained from Ypres to Brandhoek and then marched into camp.

On the 9th of October, in conjunction with the Brigade, they began a 4 days route march through Steenvoorde, Oosthouck and Mouille to Tourneham. After a rest of 3 days they then entrained at Audruicq, detrained at Pot Remy, near Abbeville, and were embussed and then marched to the Somme area.
On the 24th of October they marched from Fricourt to Bernafay Woods, a distance of 3 miles, which took them 6 hours due to the dilapidated road and churned mud.
When they reached camp they were drenched to the skin, covered in mud from head to toe and had to bivouac in shallow dug outs in inches of water.

On the 6th of November they moved into the trenches near Guedecourt.
The men were weighed down by the endless things that had to be carried when going into the front line, extra ammunition, bombs, rations, sandbags and water. In the dark, sliding along loose slippery sloping duck-boards, with a fair chance of missing them at least once, they plunged into shell holes up to their necks in ice cold mud.

Men, fortunate enough to have gum boots had to leave them in the mud and wander in their socks across the mud and mire.

Here, the constant rain had soaked the side of the trenches until both parapet and parados collapsed, falling into the already deep mud and making the whole an impassable bog.

Two days later, on the 8th, Thomas suffered a Gun Shot Wound to his left forearm and was admitted into the 5th Australian Field Ambulance and then transferred and admitted into the 10th General Hospital in Rouen 2 days later.
On the 14th he was evacuated to England on board HS Asturias and admitted into the Beaufort Military Hospital in Bristol.
Thomas spent a few weeks here and was then transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford.

On the 2nd of December Thomas was discharged to No.2 Command Depot in Weymouth where he spent Christmas 1916 before being posted to the drafting depot in Perham Downs on the 10th of January 1917.
Six days later he proceeded to France on board SS Princess Clementine and marched into the 1st ADBD in Etaples.
Thomas rejoined his Battalion on the 21st of January at Brestle in training.
Three days later they moved to Albert where Thomas billeted at Fricourt Farm.

On the 27th of January Thomas was on fatigue duty at Fricourt Farm when he broke his right leg and was transferred and admitted into the 3rd Stationary Hospital in Rouen, 4 days later.
Eight days later he was transferred to No.2 Convalescent Depot and on the 18th of February he used improper language to his Commanding Officer and was awarded 10 days confined to camp.

On the 7th of March he severely scalded his right foot and was evacuated to England 2 days later on board HS Formosa and admitted into the 1st Southern General in Edgbaston.
Seven days later he was transferred to the Warneford Hospital in Leamington where he remained until the 30th of April when he was discharged to 2 weeks furlo and then reported to No.1 Command Depot Perham Downs.
He was then granted a further 2 weeks furlo, reported back to No.1 Command Depot and was medically classified B1A (Fit for light duty only - 4 weeks) on the 6th of June.

On the 30th of July Thomas was reclassified B1A2 (Fit for overseas training camp in three to four weeks) and 4 weeks later he was transferred to No.2 Command Depot in Weymouth, where he was recommended for return to Australia.

Thomas embarked from England on board HS Beltana on the 18th of October 1917, disembarked in Melbourne on the 11th of December and entrained to Adelaide the following day.

Thomas was discharged, medically unfit, from the AIF on the 30th of January 1918 and awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War & Victory Medals.