Lyttle, Thomas Faulkner (Thomas)
Distinguished Conduct Medal
Sergeant
No. 50850, 108th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps
Died of wounds on Friday 20 September 1918 (aged 41)
Buried:
La Kreule Military Cemetery, France (Grave III. E. 16)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour
BIOGRAPHY
In the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 database it is recorded that Sergeant Thomas Faulkner Lyttle DCM resided in Holywood.
In some records, his surname is spelt Little.
Thomas Faulkner Lyttle was born on 10 November 1876 at 10 Cosgrove Street, Belfast and he was a son of William and Adelaide Lyttle (nee Walker) who were married on 10 July 1874 in St Stephen’s Church of Ireland Church Belfast.
The Lyttle family lived in Belfast, in Bradford Street, Cosgrove Street, Mervue Street and North Queen Street.
William Lyttle worked as a druggist and grocer and he and Adelaide had at least eleven children:
James Walker (born 21 March 1875 at 22 Bradford Street, Belfast)
Thomas Faulkner (born 10 November 1876 at 10 Cosgrove Street, Belfast)
Mary Jane (born 12 May 1878 at 10 Cosgrove Street, Belfast)
Adelaide (born 31 January 1880 at 8 Cosgrove Street, Belfast)
William (Willie, born 29 January 1883 at 8 Cosgrove Street, Belfast)
Gertrude (Gertie, born 23 October 1885)
Francis Herbert (born 6 November 1888 at 1 Mervue Street, Belfast)
Walter (born 18 January 1891 at 1 Mervue Street, Belfast)
Edith (born 10 March 1893 at 1 Mervue Street, Belfast)
Mabel (born 2 August 1894 in Queen Street, Belfast)
Frederick (born 6 August 1896 at 174 North Queen Street, Belfast)
Thomas Faulkner Lyttle worked as a chemist’s assistant and as a tobacconist and for a time he lived in Dublin. Thomas Faulkner Lyttle and Louise Thwaits (nee Blunt) were married on 28 November 1905 in Clontarf Parish Church of Ireland Church Dublin. Louise Thwaits (nee Blunt) was a daughter of George Blunt, a Sergeant in the Army.
Thomas and Louise Lyttle (formerly Thwaits, nee Blunt) had at least two children:
John Stewart (born 13 May 1907 at 8 Nottingham Street, Dublin)
Thomas (born 29 April 1909 in Dublin)
Louise Lyttle (formerly Thwaits, nee Blunt) had at least two other children, both of whom were born in England:
Gertrude Thwaits (born around 1895/1896)
George Thwaits (born around 1899/1900)
In 1911 Louise Lyttle and her four children were living in Palmer Street, Belfast.
In the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 database it is recorded that Thomas Faulkner Lyttle resided in Holywood, Co Down.
During the Great War, Thomas Faulkner Lyttle served with 108th Field Ambulance in the Royal Army Medical Corps and he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The citation was published in the 13 February 1917 edition of the London Gazette:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty; he displayed great courage and determination on many occasions under heavy fire, and set a splendid example to the men under him’.
Sergeant Thomas Faulkner Lyttle was 41 when died of wounds on 20 September 1918 and at the time of his death his wife Louise was living at Normanlea, 106 Park Crescent, Turffontein, Johannesburg in South Africa.
Sergeant Thomas Faulkner Lyttle is commemorated in the Belfast Book of Honour (Page 352).