BARKER, Thomas William

Thomas William Barker was born in Stourbridge and enlisted in the Artillery. He was sent to A Battery, 307th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, in the 61st Division on the Western Front. In early 1917 they were involved in following up the German retreat from the Somme to the Hindenburg Line and helped to capture Bapaume in March. They moved to Flanders for the second phase of the Third Battle of Ypres and took part in the battle of Langemarck from the 16th to the 18th August. In this battle or in the subsequent week Gunner Thomas Barker was seriously injured and transferred to a military hospital near Boulogne. He died of wounds on the 15th September 1917 and is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery (XXVI A 1A) and commemorated on the Wordsley Memorial.