In an earlier post I wrote about Thomas Gannon, a parishioner killed during the War. This post is about another Thomas Gannon from the parish, one who served in the army and died in 1917 after being discharged.
Thomas was born in Batley at the end of March 1880 and baptised at St Mary’s the following month, the son of Patrick and Mary Gannon (née Carroll) of New Street.1 No birth registration has been positively identified for Thomas, with the family seemingly drifting in and out of official records, including censuses as well as civil registration.
There is a possibility Patrick and Mary married in the Bradford Registration District in 1871,2 and arrived in Batley in around 1873. There is an inquest on 4 October 1873 into the death of a two-day old baby, Mary Gannon, the daughter of stonemason’s labourer Patrick Gannon. He and his wife (not named) had been in their lodgings at Flemings Buildings for only a few months. The baby was found dead in bed in the early hours of the morning of 4 October – the very day the inquest was held. The conclusion reached was the baby’s sleeping mother, who was extremely hard of hearing and unable to hear her infant cry, had suffocated the child whilst it lay in bed in her arms, when Patrick was asleep in a chair.3 Whilst there is a death certificate for baby Mary, she was unbaptised and no birth registration has been traced, so her mother’s maiden name can not be identified.
Other possible children of the couple include Bridget born in 1876, and John born in 1878. Baptism records corroborate the parent’s names, and mother’s maiden name. Both children died in infancy, in 1877 and 1880 respectively. John’s address at baptism and burial is New Street.
There is a Gannon family at New Street in the 1881 Census, but there are some question marks surrounding them. This is a Patrick Gannon (age 38) and wife Mary (age 40), both born in Ireland. Patrick is recorded working as a stone quarry labourer and Mary as a woollen rag sorter.4 Also in the household is seven-year-old Patrick (neither birth or baptism have been located for him), and a two-year-old son named Thomas (note the age discrepancy, as Thomas should have been one according to his baptismal details).5 No trace of the Gannon family can be found in either the 1891 or 1901 censuses.
The death of a Mary Gannon is registered in the Dewsbury District in 1887. Newspaper death notices and cemetery records from November 1887 state she was the wife of Patrick Gannon of 47 New Street. Her age is given as 37 – so a discrepancy with the 1881 census possibility.
What is certain though is Thomas Gannon enlisted with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), Service Number 1213, in October 1898, after previously serving with the Militia in the 3rd Battalion West Riding Regiment.6 A collier, his age on enlistment was stated to be 19 years and three months (or one month depending on the part of the service records). He stood at 5 feet 5¾ inches, weighed 130lbs, had pock marks on his nose, a scar caused by a burn on his right cheek, and a fresh complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair.
Rifleman Gannon, whose musketry classification was Marksman, served at home initially with the 3rd KRRC, until being posted to South Africa on 4 November 1899 until 28 July 1900. For this service he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa medal with clasps for Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Laings Nek, Transvaal and Cape Colony. From South Africa he went to Ceylon, serving with the 2nd KRRC, before a posting to India on 8 January 1901. He returned home on 24 November 1906, transferring to the Army Reserve after a total of eight years 41 days in the military. His intended place of residence was given as 44 Hume Street, Batley.
His military character was described as very good, meriting the award of two Good Conduct medals. This character is borne out by his service records which shows only four offences – one in 1899 for the intriguing offence of improper conduct in the reading room. The others occurred in Transvaal in July 1900 (inattention whilst on sentry), and India in November 1902 when he was drunk in barracks. The final one was also in India in October 1906, but there are no further details of this.
His father, Patrick, whose address was given as Commercial Street, Batley, was named his next of kin on these service papers. But they also note that on 30 July 1910 he married Mary Sloyan at St Mary’s, Batley. This marriage is also noted against his St Mary’s parish register baptismal records of April 1880 for Thomas Gannon, providing corroborating evidence.
Shortly after his marriage, in the autumn of 1910, he signed Army Reserve re-engagement papers. By this time his height was recorded as just short of 5 feet 8 inches.
The 1911 Census records Thomas and his wife at 24, New Street, Batley. Both are 32 years of age, with Thomas working as a hewer in a coal mine, and Mary as a rag sorter in the woollen trade.7
On 5 August 1914, the day after Britain’s declaration of war, Thomas was mobilised at Winchester and posted three day’s later with the 5th (Reserve) Battalion KRRC. It proved to be a very short stint back in the army. On 17 August 1914 he was deemed medically unfit, and discharged. His intended place of residence was given as 8, New Street, Batley.
Thomas died on 22 May 1917 and was buried in Batley cemetery two days later. His address was 8 New Street, and his service papers also note his death in May 1917.
His widow married John Tarpey in 1919, and died in October 1945.
Footnotes:
1. St Mary’s baptismal register.
2. This marriage certificate has not been obtained to confirm. Neither have I purchased any other identified civil registration certificates which might help prove/disprove theories in this research.
3. West Yorkshire Coroner Notebooks, West Yorkshire Archive Service.
4. 1881 Census, The National Archives (TNA), Ref RG11/4546/13/19/83.
6. This age discrepancy is replicated in the 1911 Census.
6. Soldiers Documents from Pension Claims, TNA, Ref: WO 364/1306.
7. 1911 Census, TNA, Ref RG14/27244/104.
Other Sources (not directly referenced):
• 1939 Register.
• Anglo-Boer War, account of the 3rd Battalion is taken from the KRRC Chronicle – https://www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/imperial-units/566-kings-royal-rifle-corps?start=1
• Batley Cemetery Register.
• GRO Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes.
• The Long, Long Trail website.
• Newspapers – various editions of the Batley News, Batley Reporter and Guardian and Dewsbury Chronicle and West Riding Advertiser.
• Parish Registers.
• Pension Ledgers and Card Indexes.
Past To Present Genealogy 
very interesting. My great grandfather was also Patrick Gannon from Soothill Batley. My grandfather Ernest Gannon was born in Batley in 1898 and also served in the Great war in the artillery. Are these people related? Can’t be a coincidence.
No coincidence. Your Gannons are linked to the other Thomas Gannon I wrote about. Joseph’s marriage to Emily Sykes lists his father as Patrick Gannon (deceased) greengrocer.