Thomas Oke was born in the Langtree parish in 1890. The property where the family lived is listed in the 1891 census as ‘Badslake’, which is approximately half way between the villages of Langtree and Little Torrington. His father, also called Thomas, was an agricultural labourer from Milton Dameral; his mother, Mary, was born in Langtree. At this stage the family is completed by Thomas’ three older siblings Charles, Ernest and Samuel.

 

By the turn of the century, the family’s address had changed to “Part of Dogaport, Langtree”. As is normal for the time, the children have left at a relatively young age and Thomas is the only of the children from the 1891 census to remain in the household. Amongst his siblings, he now lives with older brother, James, and the younger Oliver, Beatrice and Frances. His father’s occupation is now “quarry man”, whilst James is a “stone breaker”, presumably working together.

 

In 1910, Thomas marries local girl Thirza Hocking, who was born in Great Torrington. They were aged 19 and 20 at the time. By this time they were living in together in Langtree village. They would have two children; Harriet, born in 1913, and Margery, born in 1917. Margery’s year of birth will become even more pertinent later. Thomas has followed his father and brother into the occupation of “stone breaker”.

 

Although I have not been able to find an enlistment date, I have found a number of details. We know that Thomas was resident in Great Torrington at this time. We also know he was assigned to the 1st Devonshire Battalion and was in the 2nd Company, his service number was 15448.

 

On 26th May 1916 he was admitted to the 14th Field Ambulance for treatment, this would have been shortly before the Somme offensive. At that time, the 1st Devons were with 5th Division and they have taken over a section of frontline between St Laurent Blangy and the southern end of Vimy Ridge. Although there were no operations at the time, there are a range of reasons why he may have sustained illness or injury, but none are recorded. The interesting point is that on discharge on 6th June 1916, he is reassigned to the 2nd Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment (the Duke of Edinburgh’s). His new service number is recorded as 29687.

 

The 2nd Wiltshires were a battle-hardened outfit who had seen a great deal of action through the first years of the war. The unit were deployed under 21st Brigade of 7th Division and had landed in France in October 1914. They saw action at the First Battle of Ypres, where they suffered extremely heavy casualties; they later saw action the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, Battle of Aubers and the Battle of Loos, amongst others. After transferring to 30th Division in December 1915, the 2nd Wiltshires saw further action at the Somme where they were involved in capturing Montauban.

 

During the closing weeks of the Battle of the Somme the 21st Brigade would fight at the Battle of the Transloy Ridges. The sub-battle commenced on the 1st October 1916 with the intention of straightening the frontline by capturing strategically important points that were in German hands. These operations would include assaulting various trench networks, each with their own code name. The official final day of the battle would be on the 18th October. It was on that last day that the 2nd Wilts would be called into action in an assault on the ‘Gird’ trench.

 

The 2nd Wilts assault was part of a wider operation along the frontline. Information provided in their war diary isn’t terribly descriptive, but it reads:

 

“The artillery shelled heavily the enemy positions until 2.40am when the bombardment was intense. Previous to this hour ‘C’ & ‘D’ companys were formed up in waves, each company having two platoons in the first wave and two in the second wave. Both of these were in advance of the front line. ‘A’ company formed the third wave, lying behind the parados of our front line, and ‘B’ company were ready to move up from support line. At 3.40am the 21st Brigade attacked, the 2nd Wilts on the left, the 18th Kings Liverpools in the centre and the 2nd Yorks on the right, with the 19th Manchesters in support.”

 

Little information is known beyond this. The war diary shows the ‘C’ and ‘D’ company made it to their objective but they were unable to take them. To their right they found uncut wire that couldn’t be passed, to the left they were caught in withering machine gun fire. Most of ‘C’ and ‘D’ company were killed, including the officers. ‘A’ company pushed up in support but were also held up by uncut wire and were beaten back.

 

“‘B’ coy advanced but lost direction and part of the company under Captain CLAY crossed the SUNKEN ROAD and got into the first German lines. They bombed up a communication trench, but were driven back before a block could be made. They again bombed up the trench but were again driven back on account with shortage in bombs. On being reinforced by the Camerons of the 26th Brigade, 9th Division, this trench was captured and a block made. The first line trench captured in conjunction with the 9th Division, of which we held a part, and was consolidated.”

 

The estimated casualties in the day’s operation was 14 officers 350 other ranks. Amongst the dead that day was Thomas Oke, killed in action.

 

As well as on the Great Torrington war memorial, Thomas is remembered on the Thiepval memorial in the Somme region of France. In total, 72337 soldiers are honoured there. Although I have been in contact with his wider family, many of whom still live in the Torridge area, I have been unable to find a photo. I would be interested to hear if you could help.