John Thomas's Story.
EARLY LIFE
John Thomas Dent was baptised on 6 April 1895 at St Edward's Church, Leek, Staffordshire, the son of Ann Emma (née Haywood) and George Dent, a basket maker of Cavendish Square, Leek. He was usually known as Thomas.
By 1901, the family had moved to 2 Court 1, Mills Croft, Macclesfield, where six-year-old Thomas was living with his parents and siblings Alice (20), Emma (19), Sarah (10), George (7), Florence (2), Henrietta (1) and three-month-old baby Gertie. The family had moved to 35 Park Green, Macclesfield by 1911 and Thomas was working as a cycle repairer.
Thomas later moved to Chadderton, near Oldham, Lancashire.
Thomas' mother died on 3 November 1918, and his father lived at 14 Albion Street, Macclesfield in the 1920s.
WW1 SERVICE
Thomas enlisted in Oldham, Lancashire, joining the 2/10th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment with service number 4620. He was later transferred to the East Lancashire Regiment.
Private Dent was reported in the official War Office Casualty List dated 23 October 1917 to have been missing since 18 August 1917. His mother, who at that time was living at 280 Sheet Bridge, Oldham, sent an enquiry to the Red Cross but they replied on 21 November 1917 to say they had not found any trace of him.
It was later assumed that Private Dent had been killed in action on or soon after 18 August 1917.
COMMEMORATION
Private Thomas Dent has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel Ref. 77 to 79 of the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for Private Thomas Dent, and he is listed on the Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War website.
In Macclesfield, Private Thomas Dent is commemorated on the Park Green war memorial and the Ancient Order of Foresters Roll of Honour.
NOTES
Brother-in-law of Willie Ashness, who died in Macclesfield on 1 September 1918 from the effects of gas poisoning.
SOURCES
Soldiers Died in the Great War (Find My Past)
Red Cross Prisoner of War Records
War Office Weekly Casualty Lists
WWI Pension Record Cards (WFA/Ancestry/Fold3)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Research by Rosie Rowley, Congleton.