TRAGEDY
David Thomas Francis known to the family as Tommy was born about 1895 son of William and Sarah Ann Francis . In 1894, the family had already lost their son John Victor who died aged 7. Tommy was to have his mother for four years of his young life, Sarah died in 1898 aged 35.
My granddad ‘Fred’ was twelve when his mother died and he had to go out to work. His father and my grand-dad had to support the family and a Mrs Jones who was rough and according to my granddad, a heavy drinker brought up the younger children. None of us can imagine what it was like.
The 1901 census shows that Tommy was aged seven and had three older brothers living at home and a younger sister. Tommy went to the local Church of England school at Hengoed how much schooling he had is unclear. When Tommy was 17, he decided that he would embark on an adventure leaving his family and this country for pastures new.
On 17th April 1912, Tommy boarded the Themistocles at the Port of London. The steamship was part of the Aberdeen Line, the Master A.H.H.G. Douglas there were 914 passengers on board bound for Brisbane, Australia. There is a copy of the passenger list in photos under my documents. Tommy was passenger number 363 listed on page 9. His entry read Francis Thos, Farm hand aged, 17. On that page there were 12 other Farm hands listed. Whether he knew any of them prior to his departure, I do not know. However, filled with excitement and looking forward to his new life he said his goodbyes and headed for the Port of London. Records show that he was living in North Queensland when W.W. 1 started.
Tommy enlisted at Townsville and became Pte. David Thomas Francis No: 2137 of the 15th Bn. Australian Infantry Force. Sadly, he was killed in action on the 8th August 1915 at Dardanelles he was 20. He is buried at ASIA 51 Haider Pasha Cemetery, Constantinople. My grand-dad was listed as next of kin and informed of his brother’s death at 8 Ash Road, Oswestry.
Haidar Pasha Cemetery was opened first for the Crimean War burials and later used for the burial of Commonwealth prisoners of war during World War 1. The war graves plot contains 405 Commonwealth burials of World War 1 60 of which were unidentified. Does this suggest that Tommy was taken prisoner of war? Must try and do more research.
mypastonline.uk 