Boulton, Thomas
Rifleman
No. 3105, 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Died of wounds on Monday 19 August 1918 (aged 32)
Buried:
Terlincthun British Cemetery, France (Grave II. D. 5)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
BIOGRAPHY
In some records his surname is spelt Bolton.
In the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 database it is recorded that Thomas Boulton was born in Chesterton, Staffordshire, lived in Holywood and enlisted in Stoke-on-Trent.
In his Dependant’s Pension Record, Mrs Martha Sprotton (sometimes Sproston, sometimes Sprotson) of 21 Stubbs Gate, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire is named as a dependant. She is recorded as ‘Guardian’.
Thomas Boulton’s birth was registered in the third quarter of 1886 in Wolstanton, Staffordshire.
He was a son of Hamblet (Hamlet, born 4 October 1855) and Mary Ann Boulton (nee Knight) whose marriage was registered in the first quarter of 1881 in Wolstanton, Chesterton, Staffordshire.
Hamblet Boulton worked as a brick maker and he and Mary Ann had eleven children (three died in infancy) including:
Arthur (born around 1882)
Marion (born around 1884)
Thomas (born 1886)
Charles (born around 1890)
Mary A. (born 23 April 1891)
Harry (born around 1895)
Elizabeth (Lizzie, born around 1897)
Samson (born 28 November 1898)
Sarah Jane (born around 1905)
Thomas Boulton worked as a ‘marl getter’ in a brick yard and in 1911 the Boulton family was living at 50 Old Road, Crackley, Chesterton.
Thomas Boulton and Sarah Jane McKeown were married on 7 July 1916 in Holywood Parish Church of Ireland Church (St. Philip & St. James). Thomas Boulton was a Corporal in the Royal Irish Rifles stationed in Palace Barracks, Holywood and he was a son of Hamblet Boulton, a brick worker. Sarah Jane McKeown (aged 25, born 31 May 1891) from Ballymenoch, Holywood was a daughter of Isaac McKeown, a farmer.
Thomas Boulton served with the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and on 14 August 1918 the Battalion came under heavy gas attack.
It was reported in the 31 August 1918 edition of the Newtownards Chronicle that Rifleman Thomas Boulton (No. 3105) had died from gas poisoning and shell shock.
His widow, Sarah Jane Boulton, was living at Glenview, Ballymenoch, Holywood.
Rifleman Thomas Boulton (No. 3105) was buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery in France.
By 1939 Hamblet Boulton was widowed and his death was registered in the first quarter of 1941 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.
In 1911 Martha Sproston, her husband George (a gardener, later a grave digger), and their children: Mary, Harriett, Caroline, Florrie, and Alice, were living at 21 Stubbs Gate Newcastle-under-Lyme.
George Sproston died at 21 Stubbs Gate Newcastle-under-Lyme and was buried on 3 April 1924 (aged 71). He was buried in Newcastle Cemetery.
Martha Ann Sproston died at 21 Stubbs Gate Newcastle-under-Lyme and was buried on 11 November 1929 (aged 77). She was buried in Newcastle Cemetery.