PRIVATE SILAS J THOMAS MACEY: 1756
1st. Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment
Silas, or Thomas as he seems to have preferred to be known, lived in South Mill Cotages, West Bay Road as a young man.
His father, John, was a miller and his sister Mary and brother Alfred worked in the rope and net industry. Thomas worked a s a general labourer before he joined the 2nd Dorsestshire Territorial Force. His records show that he first tried to join up in1892 but was declared ‘unfit’ but he did eventually serve with the 2nd Dorsets and in 1911 was stationed in India, acting as one of the cooks for the Regiment.
In August 1914 Thomas joined the special Reserve of the 1st Dorsetshire regiment and was posted on active service on October 23rd, landing at Le Havre to serve along the Western Front. In April 1915 Thomas received gun shots wounds in his thigh and a month later, after treatment in hospital in Boulogne he returned to his Regiment.
On 30th July 1915 the Dorsets moved south to the Somme, which – despite trench raids and shelling – remained a relatively quiet sector until the launch of the British offensive eleven months later.
It was here, while on active service, that Thomas died – not in the heat of battle but of ‘heart failure’ – the cause of which was not diagnosed.
Thomas is buried at the Bouzincourt Communal Cemetery, alongside 32 other members of the British Forces.
