SAPPER TOM BLACKBURN
5106 – 3rd Tunnelling Company
Born at Featherstone, Yorkshire, England, on 29 May 1887, Thomas Blackburn was the son of Richard and Mary Ann (nee Candlin) Blackburn.
The 1891 Census of England records Richard Blackburn, a coal miner aged 30 living at Featherstone Green with his wife Mary Ann, aged 27, and children Edward, 8; Jeremiah, 7; Amy, 5; Tom, 4; Rose A., 1 and John aged 2 months. The four older children were attending school. A single coal miner named John Blackburn, aged 21, was a lodger in the house.
In the 1901 Census the family are living at 40 Cutsyke Road, Featherstone. Mary Ann died in 1900 and Richard is now a widower. He is a Colliery Deputy at the mine. Jeremiah, 16, is a Colliery Pony Driver Below Ground, as is Tom, now 15 years of age. Rosannah (Rose A.) and John are listed as 11 and 10 years of age respectively, and sons Walter, 7 and William, 5, and daughter Alice, 3, have joined the family. Richards’ brother Charles, 34, coal miner and also a widower, is living with the family with his daughter Eliza, aged 10. A daughter, Prudence Blackburn, aged 15 is also listed as living with the family. This could be Amy from the 1891 Census.
By 1911 the family is living in a 5-room house at Willow Lane Terrace, Featherstone. Richard is 49 and still a Colliery Deputy. His new wife of 2 years, Polly, 41, and her daughter, Annie Hardy, 24 and single, have joined the family. Tom, 24, is a coalminer; John, 20, is an apprentice bricklayer; Richard, 18, and William, 15, are Pony Drivers below ground, while Walter, 17, is an Engine Driver below ground. Alice Blackburn is now 14 years of age.
Tom Blackburn, aged 25, and his brother Edward, 29, both Miners, emigrated to Australia as 3rd Class passengers on board Orontes, leaving on 28 February 1913 and arriving at Fremantle, Western Australia.
A medical examination on 28 January 1916 at Sandstone, WA (approximately 730 kilometres north east of Perth) recorded that he was 28 years and 8 months of age. He was 5ft 1½ins tall and weighed 126 pounds. He had a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair and recorded Church of England as his faith. He was found to be ‘fit for active service’.
Tom signed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ on 16 February 1916 and the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ on 17 February at Blackboy Hill, WA.
A Miner by trade, he named as his Next-of-Kin his father, Mr. Richard Blackburn of Willow Lane, North Featherstone, North Pontefract, Yorkshire.
His training began the same day at Area No.3 and on 3 March he was transferred to the 53rd Depot Company. On 1 April he was appointed to the 12th Reinforcements, 28th Infantry Battalion. He was transferred to the 4th Reinforcements, Miners Reinforcements on 29 April with the rank of Sapper and moved to their training camp at Seymour, Victoria.
Tom embarked for the Western Front at Melbourne on board Armadale.
HMAT A26 Armadale departed Port Melbourne on 19 July 1916 with 2/Lt R.G.B. Ashcroft in charge of 78 O.Rs. making up the 2nd Reinforcements for the Mining Corps. Reaching Durban on 15 August, leave was granted from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. before Armadale departed next day
Arriving at Cape Town on 20 August, a 3-hour Route march was organised, arriving back at the ship at 1 pm. Leave was granted until 11 p.m. with the ship to leave at 2 p.m., but the departure was cancelled and the ship left the following day at 5 p.m. Liquor in town was considered of bad quality and as a result 10 tunnellers did not embark as scheduled on 21 August.
After a days stop at Port le Grand, St Vincent on 8 September, Armadale arrived at Devonport, England on 20 September 1916.
Disembarking after a voyage of 64 days, the troops entrained for Tidworth Station. 2/Lt Ashcroft and 2 Tunnellers got measles on board.
On 21 September the Reinforcements marched in to No.3 Camp, Parkhouse and proceeded overseas to France on 15 October 1916. He marched in to the Australian General Base Depot (AGBD), Etaples on 19 October and marched out to the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company (3ATC) on 23 November 1916 and was taken on strength the same day.
In October 1917 he was due his Blue Chevrons. Each blue Service Chevron denoted one year’s service from 1 January 1915. A red Chevron denoted service before 31 December 1914.
On 16 November 1917 Tom was charged with ‘whilst on active service in the field absent without leave from 11 November until 14 November 1917. He was awarded forfeiture of five days pay, making his total forfeiture 9 days pay.
He reported sick on 26 June 1918 and was admitted to the 34th Field Ambulance. He was transferred the same day to the 1st Canadian Casualty Clearing Station where he was admitted with P.U.O. (pyrexia of unknown origin).
On 27 June he was transferred by Ambulance Train 4 and admitted to the 4th General Hospital on 28 June.
On 8 July he was discharged to duty, rejoining his unit in the field the next day.
Tom proceeded on leave on 28 October 1918, rejoining his unit on 17 November.
On 22 April 1919 he marched out of his unit for return to Australia and marched in to the Australian Divisional Base Depot. He marched out to England on 28 April.
On 31 May 1919 his Next-of-Kin was temporarily changed to Mrs. J Goldsworthy, 541 Station Street, North Carlton.
He left London on 19 June 1919 for return to Australia on board Miltiades, disembarking at Melbourne on 5 August.
Tom Blackburn was a member of 3ATC from November 1916 until his return to Australia in August 1919.
3ATC first saw action at Boars Head in the lead up the Fromelles diversion ‘stunt’ of July 1916. The Company was allocated to the First Army and were engaged variously at Laventie-Fauquissart, Givenchy, Loos, Lens, Double Crassiers and Vermelles and other places on the Western Front.
On 27 November 1916 at the ‘Black Watch Sap’, Hill 70, an enemy camouflet (or a premature explosion, depending on different accounts) killed 20 members of the company. The next day 2 more members were killed in the same area by an enemy camouflet. The 22 members of 3ATC were buried in 14 adjacent graves at the Hersin Communal Cemetery Extension.
The Companies major effort was at Hill 70 where they constructed the extensive Hythe Tunnel system. The company was also heavily involved in road and bridge construction and the locating and clearing of enemy mines and booby traps. This continued for the company for some months after the Armistice.
On 31 July 1919 Mrs. J. Goldsworthy of 541 Station Street, North Carlton, wrote to Base Records requesting tickets to meet Tom and his brother Edward when they returned to Australia. She explained that their father was in England and that their home was with the Goldsworthys’. Tickets were despatched to Mrs. Goldsworthy on 1 August.
At No.5 Australian General Hospital, a pre-discharge medical report records:
Discharged from the A.I.F. in Melbourne on 3 October 1919, Tom Blackburn was entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
The 1919 Electoral Roll for Victoria records Tom Blackburn, returned soldier, and Edward Candlin Blackburn, miner, living at 541 Station Street, North Carlton.
He received his war medals on 6 August 1923 at 541 Station Street.
In 1924 and 1926 Tom and Edwin (sic) Blackburn are recorded as living at 568 Canning Street, North Carlton, and both are labourers. In 1928 they are recorded living at 570 Canning Street. Edward is a gas employee.
The 1942 through 1949 Electoral Rolls record Tom as a Labourer living at Yanac South, about 30 kms North West of Nhill, Victoria.
There are no further records of Tom Blackburn.
About the photos:
“This is a Post Card that I very much treasure from my Great Uncle Tom. He and I became great mates around 1946 when he showed up after not being in contact with the family for twenty years or more. Like his brother (my Grandad) they never talked about the war, the only story to come out was when Uncle Tom (all 5ft 1 of him) run a trail of gun powder around his brother and his mates (all stretcher bearers) whilst they were engrossed in a game of cards in a dugout in France somewhere, then disappearing into the night after setting the trail alight. I believe my Grandfather gave his little brother some what of a hiding for his trouble. True or not we will never know, although they both told the same story.
Re AWM image E01682: Yep that’s the fella, although by the time I caught up with him he was much older of course. He was working out on sheep station outside of Nhill and had ridden his push bike from there to Bacchus Marsh when the traffic began to frighten him, so he caught the train for the rest of the way. He never married and we were about his only family and as his brother (my Grandad) was living with us, Tom spent a lot of time with me and taught me how to live in the bush, catch & prepare rabbits etc. He had told me once that when he died no one would ever find him, so after his brother died he went back out to Nhill and disappeared. He had been in the coal mines in Yorkshire as a lad and he had indicated to me that he would seal himself into an old gold mine some where when the time came. So I am pretty sure that was what he did.
Tom always insisted that he was christened Tom and not Thomas, he would get a bit shirty if any one called him Thomas.”
Brian Blackburn
His brother also served in WW1.
PRIVATE EDWARD CANDLIN BLACKBURN
13153 – 1st Field Ambulance
Edward married Annie Garrity on 1 August 1903 at Featherstone Yorkshire. Annie was the daughter of John Garrity, a Miner by trade.
In 1911 Edward, a Corperal (below ground) at the Featherstone Main Colliery, and Annie were living at 13 Carlton Street, Featherstone, with their daughter Meriam Candlin, aged 6, who attends school.
Edward Blackburn, aged 29, and his brother Tom, aged 25, both Miners, emigrated to Australia as 3rd Class passengers on board Orontes, leaving on 28 February 1913 and arriving at Fremantle, Western Australia.
His wife Annie, their daughter, Meriam (listed as Marion) aged 9, and son Edward aged 1, emigrated to Australia unaccompanied, leaving London on 23 August 1913 and arriving at Fremantle, Western Australia on 2 October 1913 on board Ajana.
He enlisted at Blackboy Hill, WA, signing the Oath on 24 January 1916, stating that he was a Miner by trade. He named his wife, Mrs. Annie Blackburn of Geraldton, WA, as his Next-of-Kin and allotted two-fifths of his pay for the support of his wife and children.
Annie later changed her address to 494 Beaufort Street, Perth.
A medical examination at Sandstone, WA on 27 December 1915 had found him ‘fit for active service’ and had recorded that he was 32 years and 8 months of age and that he was 5ft 6ins tall and weighed 140 pounds. He had a fair complexion, grey eyes and dark hair. He recorded Church of England as his faith.
Training began at 46 Depot Battalion on 24 January and on 1 February he was transferred to the 17th Field Ambulance with the rank of Private.
Edward embarked at Fremantle with the Army Medical Corps, General Reinforcements, on 14 March 1916 on board HMAT A63 Karoola.
On 19 March he was taken on strength of the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital at Ismailia from Special Reinforcements A.M.C.
On 24 August he marched in to the R.A.M.C. Records at Mustapha.
He embarked at Alexandria for England on 14 September 1916 on board Warilda and was taken on strength of the AMC Training Depot, No.2 Camp, Parkhouse on 28 September.
On 16 April 1917 he marched out of the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford to AMC Details, Parkhouse. On 27 April 1917 he was transferred to the 62nd Infantry Battalion as a medical detail. In June 1917 he was taken on strength of 16th Field Ambulance and was detached to the 62nd Battalion for duty as A.M.C. Detail.
He returned from the 62nd Battalion on 21 September 1917 and resumed duties with 16th Field Ambulance.
On 8 October 1917 he proceeded overseas to France and marched in to the Australian General Base Depot, Rouelles, on 11 October. On 24 October he marched out to the 1st Division, A.M.C. where he was taken on strength of the 1st Australian Field Ambulance on 2 November 1917.
On 6 July 1918 he was recorded to be with his Unit.
He was granted leave to England from 18 October 1918 until 3 November, when he rejoined his unit in the Field.
On 10 March 1919 he was detached to the 2nd Field Ambulance and on 12 March he was detached down to 55th Casualty Clearing Station.
He rejoined his Unit on 10 April and marched out to England on 17 April for return to Australia.
Edward left London on 5 July 1919 for return to Australia on board Port Melbourne as Duty Nursing Staff. Disembarking at Adelaide on 18 August, and then travelled on to Melbourne where he disembarked on 20 August. He was discharged from the A.I.F. on 12 October 1919, entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
He received his British War medal on 5 January 1922, and his Victory Medal on 6 August 1923.
The Electoral Rolls for 1931, 1934, 1936 record Edward Blackburn, gas employee, living at 167 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy South.
In January 1938 his military and medical records were provided to the Repatriation Commission, Melbourne.
In 1949 he is a gas employee living at 22 Newton Street, Preston East.
Edward Candlin Blackburn died at Greensborough, Victoria on 11 November 1951, aged 68 years.
On 23 November 1951 his military and medical records were again provided to the Repatriation Commission, Melbourne.
“He died from a heart attack whilst he and I were clearing a fire break around our house.