Thomas Devine
St Sever Cemetery
Medal Index Card
RAMC at Hutton Terrace Drill Hall
RAMC at Gosforth
Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-
Thomas Devine was born at Felling, Gateshead, County Durham, January 5th 1890, one of 7 children of whom only 5 survived he was the second born of 3 sons and 2 daughters and also had a half sister born from his father Hugh Devine’s first marriage. Hugh Devine was born 1843 in Ireland and married his second wife in 1881 at Gateshead, Isabella Tollen born 1853 in Scotland. Employed as a general labourer in 1891 the Devine family were living at 34, Quarry Row, Felling, brother-in-law William Tollan lived with them, employed as a goods porter. At the age of 17 daughter Mary was a dressmaker’s apprentice and William (15) was employed at the colliery offices dealing with the post. Thomas’s father died in 1902 aged 53 years when he was 12 years old, by 1911 living at 6, Catherine Street, Felling, Thomas (21) and his brother Hugh (17) were both employed as miners supporting not only their widowed mother but also their sister Sarah Ann (8) and niece Anna Donnelly.
On the outbreak of war Thomas Devine left his employment as a banks-man at Felling colliery to enlist into the 1st Northumberland Field Ambulance at Hutton Terrace Drill Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on September 4th 1914, assigned to the Royal Army Medical Corp initially as Private 1611 Territorial Force.
He was embodied in to the Royal Army Medical Corps on the 16th February 1915 at Newcastle, service number now 386199.
The 1st Northumbrian Field Ambulance was located at Cambridge Hall in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, this was formerly the Headquarters of the Northern Division R.A.M.C. It was positioned between St James's Congregational Church and the Brady and Martin Chemical Works, [occupied by private apartments now]. Today only the Church remains.
The 1st Northumbrian Field Ambulance RAMC derived it's origins from the bearer company of the late 2nd Volunteer Battalion the Northumberland Fusiliers, now the 5th Battalion. There was a school of Instruction nearby, the Royal Victoria Infirmary, The Military Hospital and the School of Medicine.
The equipment in 1914 consisted of 3 Ambulance Wagons, 1 General Service Wagon, 1 Water Cart, 1 Hospital Marquee, 1 Operating and 4 Bell Tents and medical and surgical accessories. In 1912 40 men were in the Special Reserve.
Field Ambulances : Marriage of Bearer Company and Brigade Field Hospital. 3 per Infanty Division, [1 per Brigade], 9 MOs, 1 QM, and 224 ORs. A, B, and C sections, each with bearer and Tented elements. 10 Horse Drawn Ambulances.
1/1 Northumberland Field Ambulance was part of the 50th Northumbrian Division which did not go overseas until April 1915. Northumbrian Division spent a portion of 1914 and 1915 garrisoning the Tyne Defences.
Sent to the Western Front via Southampton he landed with his unit at Le Havre, April 18th 1915 attached to the 1/1 Northumberland Field Ambulance, one of three Field Ambulances with the 50th Northumbrian Division. The Field Ambulance as a medical mobile unit were under the command of the division, responsible for the evacuation chain of the wounded and ill, never more than 600 yards behind the front line taking the men to the Casualty Clearing Station, Advance Dressing Station and helping the walking wounded.
Private Devine was transferred into the 1/1 Northumberland Field Ambulance, which was part of the 50th Northumbrian Division, sent to Belgium just as the Germans attacked Ypres with poison gas for the first time seeing action at the Battle of St. Julien, Frezenberg and Bellewaarde Ridge in 1915, followed by the Battles of the Somme in 1916 and the Arras Offensive in 1917, where on the first day of battle, July 9th 1917 he was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field. The division then moved back to Belgium participating in the Third Battle of Ypres and in 1918 returned to the battlefields of the Somme.
Private 386199 Thomas Devine M.M. Royal Army Medical Corp contracted pneumonia and died of bronchitis/pneumonia, October 18th 1918 at the 1st Australian Hospital, Rouen, and interred at St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France, grave S. II. J. 25. He was 28 years old ad single.
His mother Isabella nominated as his sole beneficiary received all monies due to him, a pension and his awards of the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and Military Medal sent to her at Felling, Gateshead, County Durham.
Isabella Devine nee Tollen died at Gateshead in 1925 aged 72 years.
Thomas’s brother Hugh Devine born at Felling in 1894, also served during the Great War with the Royal Regiment of Artillery, he survived the conflict and died at Gateshead aged 51 years of age in 1951.
In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.
Heslop’s Local Advertiser 20/07/1917 reports::
'Private Thomas Devine, R.A.M.C., of Catherine Street, Felling, has been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field. Previous to joining the colours he was employed at Felling Colliery and was a member of the St.John Ambulance Brigade at Felling.'
See also Honouring the Lads
Thomas Devine is remembered at Felling as T. Divine on F32.06 and F32.24 in Gateshead on G39.030
