In Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt is the Commonwealth War Grave of 147898 Gunner Thomas Appleby serving with the 60th Division Ammunition Column Royal Field Artillery who died 22/04/1918.
The son of Margaret Appleby and the husband of S. A. Lampitt (formerly Appleby), of 16, Cassau Road, Newport, Monmouthshire. he was a native of Edinburgh.
In Embleton (Spitalford) Cemetery is a family headstone which reads:
In loving memory of
Alexander
son of Thomas & Margaret Appleby
of Embleton
who departed this life June 1st 1893
aged 12 years
and of the above
Thomas Appleby, who died
August 27th, 1894, aged 48 years.
And of the above
Margaret Appleby,
who died May 4th 1916 aged 72 years.
interred at Wolverton.
And of Thomas, their son
who died on active service in Egypt
April 28, 1918, aged 40 years.
And of Margaret, their daughter,
who died May 28, 1927, aged 44 years.
Interred in Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
David Thompson has submitted the following:-
There is some confusion about the origin of Thomas Appleby regimental service number 147898. ‘Soldiers Died…’ records his birthplace as Wolverhampton, Staffordshire while ‘The Fallen of Embleton 1914-1919‘ gives it as Embleton, Northumberland.
Given the writers and researchers of ‘The Fallen of Embleton…’ will have had more time to check things out, it may be best to simply accept their early history of Appleby. This being so, he was born in 1878, the eldest child of Thomas Appleby (b. 1847, at Embleton; a Stone Merchant and proprietor of the ‘Hare and Hounds’, now the Dunstanburgh Castle Hotel) and his wife, Margaret (née Reekie; b. 1846, at Falkirk, Scotland).
The couple were married at Edinburgh in 1876 and had four children. Appleby’s siblings were: Alexander (b. 1881); Margaret (b. 1883); and Frances (b. 1886). All were born at Embleton. Alexander died about 1893 and Thomas Snr. died in the following year – both are buried in Spitalford Cemetery.
At some time after her husband’s death Margaret Appleby returned to Scotland to run a Boarding House, taking her daughters with her. In 1901, with his mother and sisters in Scotland, Thomas Jnr. was boarding in Hotspur Place, Alnwick and working as a Blacksmith.
Shortly before the 1911 Census, Appleby followed his sister Frances and her family to the Midlands and appears to have worked as a Kinematograph Bill Inspector in their business.
Early in 1914 he married Sophie Agnes Taylor in Wolverhampton, and over the next four years they had three children – Iris (b. 1914); Thomas (b. 1916); and Vera (b. about 1918).
Husband of Sophie Agnes Lampitt (formerly Appleby), of 16, Cassau Road, Newport, Monmouthshire.
Appleby prepared a Field Will in October 1917, which left the whole of his Army ‘Effects’ to his wife, Agnes, who lived at 109, Alma Street, Heath Town, Wolverhampton, however Probate was granted on 29 July 1918 to Audrey Appleby, spinster, in the sum of £370 8s 10d. Presumably, Audrey Appleby must have been an Aunt.
‘Soldiers Died…’ has Appleby enlisting at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now, West Midlands).
Virtually nothing can be traced to reveal Appleby’s service record. The writers and researchers of ‘The Fallen of Embleton…’ speculate that, because of his age, he was probably not called up until mid-1916. It’s possible he may have served in the Salonika theatre of operations, in Greece, before 60th Division moved to Egypt for operations in Palestine.
Appleby died at 21st General Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt, due to sickness, possibly malaria.
Thomas Appleby is not remembered on a local War Memorial.
