2018 Battlefield Tour post 05
2018 France/Belgium Trip Post 05
From Arras we headed 10 miles south to the village of Douchy les Ayette to honour one of our own, Thomas Woodcock VC, a born and bred Wiganer. Lol left a poppy cross at the graveside
8387 Cpl Thomas Woodcock VC was born at 15 Belvoir Street, Scholes, Wigan, Lancs on 19th March 1888. Thomas was one of eleven children born between 1878 and 1903. His father, Henry Woodcock, was a colliery worker at Arley Mine. He married Isabella “Bella” Twigley on 24th November 1877 at St Patrick RC Church, Wigan. Bella hailed from Lanarkshire in Scotland.
Thomas married Mary Mitchell at St. Patrick's RC Church in 1909, they had three children, John Henry bn 1910, Nora bn 1911 and Mary bn 1912.
Thomas enlisted into the Guards Division on 26th May 1915 and joined the Depot the following day. He embarked at Southampton and entered the theatre of war in France on 22nd December 1915. Having served in the 7th Bn (Guards) Entrenching Battalion from 27th December, he joined 2nd Irish Guards on 19th May 1916. He was attached to 174th Tunnelling Company from 13th-19th August. He was admitted to 9th Field Ambulance with diarrhoea on 21st October. It developed into dysentery and he was moved to No 39 Casualty Clearing Station on 24th October and then 4th General Hospital at Camiers, near Boulogne on the 27th. He didn’t return to the Battalion until the end of November, later attending a Lewis Gun course in February 1917.
Thomas was awarded the Victoria Cross on 18 Oct 1917, his VC Citation reads :
“On 12th-13th September 1917 north of Broenbeek, Belgium, when an advanced post had held out for 96 hours and was finally forced to retire, the lance-sergeant (John Moyney) in charge of the party and Private Woodcock covered the retirement. After crossing the stream themselves, Private Woodcock heard cries for help behind him, he returned and waded into the stream amid a shower of bombs and rescued another member of the party whom he carried across open ground in daylight towards our front line, regardless of machine-gun fire. “
He returned to Britain on leave in February 1918, and on his homecoming, on 3rd March he was given a hero’s welcome by his home town. He was presented with a marble clock, an illuminated address and more than £200 in cash.
His Victoria Cross was presented by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 9th March 1918. A reception was arranged by the parishioners of St Patrick’s Church on the day he left to return to France. During it he said “I am going back tonight to do a little bit more for the King.”
Thomas returned to France on 17th March 1918 but was tragically was killed in action ten days later on 27 March at Bullecourt, France. He was buried in Douchy-les-Ayette British Cemetery (Plot IV Row F, Grave No.3). His wife received a parcel of his personal effects, including a bloodstained newspaper and a photo of him surrounded by family and civic dignitaries. The photo was less than a month old.
On 4 July 1918 Thomas’s father Henry who had been unable to work as he suffered from lumbago went missing. His jacket and cap were found by the canal and his body was discovered later when the canal was dragged.
A week later on 11 July 1918 Thomas’s 7 year old daughter Nora died. She was buried in the same public grave as her grandfather in Wigan Cemetery, Lower Ince. In the space of barely 4 months Mary had lost her husband, father in law and daughter. Mary received a widow’s pension for herself and her two children from 28th October 1918.
Woodcock House in Millgate is named after Thomas, also an artwork installation of a metal sculpture and glass mosaic has been put in place on the entrance wall in the street in his honour.
In 2000 a plaque was unveiled in St. Patrick RC Church, Scholes, attended by his family and representatives of the Irish Guards.
On 15 Sept 2017 a street was named after Thomas. Woodcock Walk links Darlington St. to Hardybutts, close to his old church St. Patrick’s.
In addition to the VC, Thomas was awarded the 1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. His VC is held by the Irish Guards in the Guards Museum, Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London…. RIP
