WYRE, Thomas Ernest Edmund

Thomas Wyre was born at Norton, Stourbridge, on 26th April 1889. His father was Richard Wyre, a chain-maker, and he attended Oldswinford C of E School. By 1914 he was working as a domestic gardener and living with his wife at 47 Court Street. He married Mary Garbett in 1910 and they had three children. He volunteered for the Worcestershire Regiment on the 29th October 1914 and joined the 9th (Service) Battalion. His three brothers all volunteered. One was wounded on the Somme and another became a prisoner of war. Thomas served in the Dardanelles from the 28th August 1915 and suffered severe frost-bite in the notorious great freeze of the 26th November. He was shipped back to England in the SS Transylvania, arriving at Devonport in 3rd January 1916. After convalescence at home he was sent to the 2nd Battalion. This battalion had been very active in the Battle of the Somme and in April and May 1917 fought in the Battle of Arras. Then they moved to Flanders in July for the Third Battle of Ypres. The battalion was much cheered by the fact that their orders were to push along the Menin Road and capture Gheluvelt, the site of their famed attack in October 1914. It was, however, a vicious task. The whole position was thoroughly targeted by the German artillery and so regularly shelled that it was unusable and this attack petered out with heavy losses. They returned to the front line at Passchendaele in late October to take part in the final push to capture the village. The line was never quiet and on the 1st December there was a heavy barrage. Lance Corporal Thomas Wyre was killed instantaneously by shell splinters. He was 28 years of age and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot, Stourbridge, St. Thomas’s church, Oldswinford church and Oldswinford C of E school Memorials.