Thomas Alfred Armes

Thomas Alfred Armes was born in Hampstead, London, in 1897, the son of Thomas Armes and Ann Maile.

Thomas Armes and Ann Maile
marriage certificate
Thomas Armes and Ann Maile

His parents had married in 1878 at St Andrew's Church, Haverstock Hill, Camden.

1901 Census

At the time of the 1901 Census, the family was living in Fleet Road, Hampstead, London. Thomas's father, aged 43, was employed as a plumber, while his mother, Ann, aged 42, worked as a laundress.

Their children recorded at home included Alice, aged 12; George, eight; Maud, six; Thomas, four; Arthur, two; and Walter, who was just four months old.

1911 Census

A decade later, the 1911 Census recorded the family at 59 Fleet Road, Hampstead. Thomas senior, now aged 54, was still working as a plumber, while his wife, Annie, was 53.

Several of their children remained at home. George, aged 18, was recorded as being out of work, while Thomas Alfred, aged 14, was employed as an errand boy for a greengrocer. Their younger siblings, Walter, aged 10, and Amy, aged seven, were also living with the family.

James George Armes
Thiepval Memorial
credit - findagrave

The First World War was to bring tragedy to the Armes family. Thomas's elder brother, James George Armes, served as a Private with the 3rd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers). James was killed in action on 12 September 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. Having no known grave, he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France.

Thomas Alfred also entered military service and became a Lance Corporal with the 14th Battalion, Welsh Regiment, commonly known as the Swansea Battalion.

Thomas Alfred Armes
Bois-des-Angles British Cemetery, France
credit - findagrave

Thomas survived until the closing weeks of the war, but on 8 October 1918, during the final Allied advance, he was killed in action. He was only about 21 years old. His death came little more than a month before the Armistice brought the fighting on the Western Front to an end.

Lance Corporal Thomas Alfred Armes is buried at Bois-des-Angles British Cemetery, France.

Like the Allars family, the Armes family suffered the loss of two sons during the First World War. James George was killed on the Somme in September 1916, followed just over two years later by his younger brother Thomas Alfred. One has no known grave and is remembered at Thiepval; the other lies in a marked grave in France. Both left behind a family in Hampstead that had endured the loss of two of its sons to the war.