Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas Tolley was born in Canning Town, London. When he enlisted he reported that he was married to wife Ellen and had three children, but unusually Ellen and the children were living in Canning Town. Perhaps Thomas had sent his wife and children back to England for the period of his enlistment. Thomas gave his occupation as fireman (most likely a locomotive fireman on the railways) and his address as C/- F. Young of Sherwood.

Thomas enlisted in Brisbane on 21st August 1915, having been previously rejected due to flat feet. He was 26 years old at the time and was drafted into A Company of the 31st Battalion which was being partly raised at Enoggera. The Queenslanders travelled by train to Broadmeadows where they met up with Victorian recruits who would make up the numbers in the composite battalion. The 31st embarked from Melbourne on the “Wandilla” on the 9th November 1915.

After a sea voyage of a month, the “Wandilla” arrived at Suez and the troops went into camp for further training. The 31st Battalion was part of the newly created 5th Division, and arrived in Marseilles on 23rd June 1916. The Division was placed in the quiet sectors of the front near the French Belgian border to learn the business of trench warfare but less than a month after arriving in France; the division would be put into the line at Fromelles.

Haig had begun his Big Push on the Somme on the 1st July and things had not gone well. In an effort to divert German troops away from the front on the Somme and therefore relieve his hard pressed brigades, Haig decided on a feint north of the Somme to distract the enemy. The feint would be provided by the inexperienced 5th Division on 19th and 20th July. Just as things had gone badly on the Somme, so too did the Fromelles attack. During this action, Thomas Tolley sustained a gun shot wound to the hand which required treatment in England. Thomas could have counted himself lucky. The 5th Division suffered 5,500 casualties at Fromelles and were so knocked about that they ceased to be a viable fighting force for the rest of 1916.

By August of 1916, Thomas had recovered from his wound and was posted to a number of training and depot battalions in England for the next 12 months, no doubt being able to see his wife and family on periods of leave. Thomas was posted back to the 31st in October 1917, where the battalion was preparing to go into the line at Polygon Wood.

After the exhaustive battles in Flanders during the latter half of 1917, both sides settled into a period of relative quiet, with occasional trench raids and artillery duels conducted to harass the enemy rather than make any substantial gain. The 31st War Diary describes days on end of frost, fog and drizzle during which the battalion rotated in and out of the line every ten days or so. It was during one of these periods of inactivity that Thomas Tolley was killed on 18th March 1918 at Wytschaete. Thomas’s luck which had spared him at Fromelles had now deserted him. For the entire month of March, the battalion war diary lists only 6 fatalities; which by the standards of the day was exceedingly light.

Thomas was buried at Cabin Hill Cemetery, not far from where he fell, close to the village of Messines. There is no indication of a pension being awarded to Ellen and the children but it is almost certain that such a payment was made. A Mr Dart, secretary of the Loyal Sherwood Forest Lodge wrote requesting certificates of death so that a funeral benefit could be payed. It is impossible to determine whether Ellen Tolley returned to Australia. Perhaps Thomas’s name on the Graceville memorial is due to his landlord; F. Young of Sherwood.

Courtesy of Ian Lang

Mango Hill