Thomas Henry Marchbanks, one of 7 known children, was the 2nd born of 4 brothers and had 1 elder and 2 younger sisters. His parents Joseph Marchbanks Snr and Margaret Mitchell, born 1857 and 1866 respectively, were natives of Sunderland, County Durham, where they were married during the 4th quarter (Oct/Nov/Dec) 1880, setting up home at 8, Lombard Street. Joseph Snr was employed 2 doors away at the Bamburgh Castle public house as a servant/barman. Ten years later he was working as a dock labourer to support his wife and 3 children, Hector born January 8th 1883, Mary 1886 and Thomas Henry, November 15th 1890. They lived in a tenement building at 19, Sans Street which they shared with 2 other families, in all 7 adults and 13 children. Their son John Edward was born April 2nd 1892, Joseph Jnr 1897 and Henrietta 1898. They had remained at number 19, Sans Street, where in 1901 their youngest child Margaret Ann was born and while Joseph Snr continued to work at the docks, Hector now 18 was employed as a heater at the shipyards and Mary (15) worked at a tobacco shop. Margaret Marchbanks nee Mitchell died aged 37 years during the 2nd quarter 1904, Margaret Ann in 1906, only 5 years old. The loss of his wife brought great changes for Joseph Snr, Hector enlisted in the Army serving with the Yorkshire Regiment in Egypt, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Sudan, Mary Ann married in 1906, Thomas Henry found employment as a brickyard labourer living as a boarder at 5, Morton Crescent, Fence Houses in the family home of coal miner Richard Armstrong, Joseph Jnr (16) was a boarder in the home of widow Elizabeth Ann Wright and her 5 children at 21, Morton Crescent, Fence Houses, employed below ground at the colliery as a pony driver, the whereabouts of John Edward, Henrietta and Joseph Snr is unknown.

August 10th 1914, coal miner Thomas Henry Marchbanks enlisted at Sunderland declaring he had previously served with the 8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry which had been formed in 1908 from the old 4th Volunteer Battalion, a Territorial force with H.Q. at Durham City and drill halls at Beamish, Birtley, Chester-le-Street, Hamsteels, Stanley, Washington, Gilesgate and Bede College, Durham City. Given his experience he was assigned as Private 24141 to the Durham Light Infantry and departed from Newcastle-upon-Tyne railway station August 22nd bound for Woking in Surrey and allocated to the 10th (Service) Battalion, attached to the 43rd Brigade, 14th (Light) Division. Initial training was slow as the men had no uniforms or equipment, in February 1915 they moved to barracks at Aldershot, having been equipped, for final training and departed with the Division as part of the British Expeditionary Force, May 21st 1915, bound for France. Three weeks later they were in the front line south of Ypres in Belgium where they suffered heavy losses and were the first division to be attached by flamethrowers. By the end of July 1915 they had moved to the Ypres salient, defending the smashed trenches south of Hooge which still contained the dead from previous days of fighting, loosing over 170 men killed or wounded. They remained in Belgium until June 1916 when they moved to the Arras sector until they joined the final battles on the Somme in August 1916 at Delville Wood. The battalion attacked September 16th 1916 Gird trenches loosing 400 men wounded or missing having been caught by German machine gun fire. By spring 1917 they had transferred to the Arras sector, just prior to the commencement of the Battle of Arras which raged from April 9th-May 16th 1917. Private Marchbanks was wounded, April 4th, a gunshot wound to the wrist and taken to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station at Warlencourt, was admitted to the 16th General Hospital at Le Triport, April 11th and on to the 3rd General Hospital at Etaples by May 1st 1917. Once recovered he was given leave to England where he was married, December 18th 1917, at Hendon, County Durham to May Brennen, born July 6th 1896 at West Ham, Essex. He re-joined his regiment which had returned to the Ypres salient in Belgium, engaged from August-December 1917 during the 3rd Battle of Ypres. Private Marchbanks was wounded for a second time August 15th 1917 and received attention at the 8th Casualty Clearing Station, Brandhoek before being admitted to the 35th General Hospital at Calais.

He was repatriated to England in March 1918 and transferred to the Tank Corps Depot warehouse with a change of service number to 308321 until he returned to France, landing at Le Havre, August 3rd 1918, where at the 3rd Echelon he was classified and appointed Tank Mechanical Private 2nd Class. He remained with the Tank Corps however he began to suffer from ill-health and after the signing of the Armistice, November 11th 1918, he was amongst the first to be repatriated to England. He returned to England aboard the S.S. Dunkirk, January 4th 1919, transferred to the Army Reserve and was discharged at Ripon, January 12th 1919. He returned to the address of 3, Lawrence Street, Sunderland, however, he and his wife moved to 5, Morton Crescent, Fence Houses, County Durham soon after. Joseph Marchbanks Snr died during the 1st quarter (Jan/Feb/Mar) 1919, aged 62 years, registered in the district of Sunderland, County Durham.

Thomas Henry’s brothers all served during WW1, Hector with the Yorkshire Regiment, John Edward and Joseph with the Durham Light Infantry. Private Joseph Marchbanks was killed in action September 25th 1915 in Belgium.

In 1939 Thomas and May were living at 29, Wandsworth Avenue, Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, where he was employed at the coal mine as a screener above ground. Thomas Henry Marchbanks died in 1957, district of Sunderland, County Durham, aged 67 years, details as regards May Marchbanks nee Brennen, unknown.

In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.