Auction Catalogue

23 September 2005

Starting at 11:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part III)

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 1113

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23 September 2005

Hammer Price:
£780

Four: Captain T. A. Thirlwell, 170th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers

1914-15 Star (2 Lieut., R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt.); France, Croix de Guerre 1914-1917; Memorial Plaque (Thomas Albert Thirlwell) extremely fine (5) £400-500

Thomas Albert Thirlwell was educated at Rutherford College and Armstrong College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. From 1901 to 1905 he was a pupil to the Wallsend and Herbert Colliery Company, during which time he was educated in mining engineering. During 1906-10 he was Assistant Underground Manager at the Hebburn Collieries and in 1911 became their Surveyor. During 1912-15 he was Underground Manager at the Hebburn Collieries and then Assistant Manager to the East Holywell Colliery Company. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 26 November 1915 and attained the rank of Acting Captain on 1 September 1916. Serving with the 170th Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers, he died from the effects of gas on 1 October 1917, aged 33 years. The son of Henry P. and Mary A. Thirlwell, of Benwell Old House West, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he was buried in the Calais Southern Cemetery, France.

The coal mines in the Béthune-Lens area of northern France were crossed by the front line and were utilized by both sides who used them to infiltrate their agents. In 1916/17, of particular worry were the shafts in the vicinity of Annequin, the Germans holding Shaft 8 which led through various galleries to a number of other shafts on the allied side of the lines. In August 1917, Major Manning, the officer commanding 170th Tunnelling Company made an inspection of the mine and agreed to post a detail of men at the bottom of Shaft 8 to watch for any German activity. In addition to which, fearing the mine might be flooded with gas, a block and seal was built. On 25/26 September 1917 some signallers were sent down to repair the telephone wires connecting the workers and watch detail to the surface. A German bombardment of the area around the allied held Shaft 9 prompted the French workmen building the block to depart for the surface which was fortunate as the Germans began to flood the mine with chloro-picrine gas via Shaft 8. In its aftermath it was found that one N.C.O. and six other ranks of the 170th Tunnelling Company at the base of Shaft 8, together with two French ‘listeners’, two French pump-men and one signaller were ‘missing’. A rescue party from the 170th was immediately assembled in the form of Lieutenant Wood with eleven other ranks all wearing breathing apparatus. Descending Shaft 9, they managed to get 1,000 metres from the shaft before the gas began to penetrate their masks and they were compelled to retire. Reinforced by Lieutenant Robertson and nine other ranks they made further attempts but managed to get no further. Lieutenant Wood and his men all being affected by the gas, they were relieved by Captain Thirlwell and other members of the 170th. They managed to make a little more headway before they too were forced to return. On the 27th the Germans bombarded the area around Shafts 4 and 9 (allied held, nearest the front line) with mustard gas and Captain Thirlwell and his party were badly gassed and he and another man died from the effects. In the following days, further rescue attempts were made in the gas filled chambers, with one body being recovered, before they were called off. The gas eventually cleared to enable the block and seal to be completed.

Sold with slip to accompany the Memorial Plaque and a named Commemorative Scroll, these both mounted on card; also copied extracts from
Tunnellers by Grieve and Newman relating to the incident and other research. Croix de Guerre not confirmed.

The Croix de Guerre is confirmed in the London Gazette, 18 April 1918