Born in 1899 at Heath Farm Cottages, Oby near Rollesby, the younger son of William and Joanna Sales neé Blackburne.
William Sales died in 1903 aged 72 years. As a result of this the family lost their home and had to move to Thrigby Road, Filby.
Thomas and his older brother, William, attended Filby School. Thomas left school on 15th April 1912 before completing his education.
At the age of 16 Thomas was confirmed, on 14th May 1915, in Ormesby St Margaret church.
Six months later, on 20th December 1915, Thomas enlisted into the Norfolk Regiment at Great Yarmouth still aged only 16 years. He later transferred to the Infantry Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps. His service number was 8971.
Thomas was a Private when he died of his wounds in France and Flanders on 28th May 1918, aged just 19 years.
Thomas is remembered on both the Filby School and church memorials and also the Jonchery-sur-vesle British Cemetery in France.
Please be aware a lot of development remains to be done and our researches are far from complete.
The information provided here is gathered from a number of sources and is, to the best of our knowledge, accurate. We cannot, of course, vouch for the accuracy of all those source and we are aware that names by which individuals were known and those recorded in official records often varied. There are also gaps in the official record as some records were lost to enemy action during the Second World War and through the passage of time.
To see pictures of the war memorial please click here.
If you have any further information regarding these men or photographs or, despite our best efforts, there is an error for an individual entry please contact Lesley via webmaster@filbyvillage.org.uk
To return to the church memorial index please click here.
