Corporal Thomas Austin

Corporal Thomas Oswald Austin, 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in France on 15th September 1916, aged 19, during the Battle of the Somme. He had been born in Berwick and was the son of Mrs Martha Dempster of 4 Station Cottages, Tweedmouth and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. He fell in an attack on German positions near Mametz Wood which was only partially successful and cost the Battalion heavily. 3 Officers and 40 Other Ranks were killed and 7 Officers and 219 Other Ranks were wounded. In addition 74 Other Ranks were posted missing. He had been wounded three times previously. Before the War he had been employed as a miner at Scremerston. The photos show troops on the Somme and the colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today. The final photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to commemorated the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918 when it was transferred to the 42nd ( East Lancashire ) Division as the Pioneer Battalion. It was erected near to the village of Weiltje where nearby the Division had fought its first action on 26th April 1915 during the Battle of St Julien only days after landing on the Continent.