CORPORAL THOMAS ELIAS KEECH: 13
1st Dorset Battery Royal Field Artillery
Thomas was born in Bridport- one of four children born to William and Elizabeth Keech – Thomas, Emily, George and Fred.
At the time of his birth, Thomas and the rest of the family were living at Ellen’s Row, East Street and William was working as a yarn bleacher
Thomas’s mother died in the early 1900s and the family dispersed. His father is recorded as a inmate of Bridport workhouse in 1901, Emily went into service and George signed on for twelve ears service in the Territorial Forces. Thomas was a reservist in the Territorial Service – re-engaging on an annual basis whilst working as a labourer and mason for G Abbott – Builder.
Thomas rose from the rank of Bombadier to Corporal in the Territorial Force and when war was declared he was quickly mobilised, re-joining the Dorset Battery of the Royal Battery on August 5th 1914.
He travelled to India, where the Battery was to remain throughout the war acting as a training and garrison unit.
Thomas was stationed near Bareilly a cantonment some 800 miles north of Calcutta. In July 1917 he was admitted to the military hospital, returning a few weeks later for an operation ‘at his own request.’
His service record reports that “ …when about 3ii of chloroform had been administered, he collapsed and died. Every known means of resuscitation was practiced but the patient never rallied.”
A military Board was assembled and they pronounced that the anaesthetic had been properly administered and that Thomas had “ died of heart failure, due to the anaesthetic.”
He was buried alongside 36 other British war casualties in Bareilly Cemetery