{"id":579,"date":"2014-11-05T18:48:24","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T18:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plattwarmemorial.org\/?page_id=579"},"modified":"2024-10-03T13:17:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T13:17:57","slug":"william-thomas-merritt-1895-1915","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/world-war-one\/william-thomas-merritt-1895-1915\/","title":{"rendered":"William Thomas Merritt (1896 &#8211; 1915)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-three\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h3 class=\"title-heading-left fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;--fontSize:24;line-height:1.5;\">Rfn William Thomas Merritt (1895 &#8211; 1915)<\/h3><\/div><span class=\" fusion-imageframe imageframe-dropshadow imageframe-1 hover-type-zoomin\" style=\"-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);margin-right:25px;float:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/william_thomas_merritt.jpg\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[548484c6b38f07227fb]\" data-title=\"William Thomas Merritt (1895 &#8211; 1915)\" title=\"William Thomas Merritt (1895 &#8211; 1915)\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"222\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/william_thomas_merritt-222x300.jpg\" alt class=\"img-responsive wp-image-583\" srcset=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/william_thomas_merritt-222x300.jpg 222w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/william_thomas_merritt-640x863.jpg 640w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/william_thomas_merritt.jpg 741w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px\" \/><\/a><\/span><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">William Thomas Merritt (usually known as Thomas) was the fifth of nine children of Henry Merritt, a stoker from Staplehurst, and his wife, Mary Jane (n\u00e9e Burgess.) He was born on 11 July 1895\u00a0in Maidstone and, in 1901, lived with his family in a cottage between Basted House and Basted Lodge. Thomas\u2019s father worked in the Basted Paper Mill\u00a0when he and his two siblings started at Platt School in October 1905; however, by 1911, the family had moved back to Maidstone and lived at 10 Brunswick Street. At 14, Thomas got his first job working in the wood trade, though he eventually followed in his older brother Henry\u2019s footsteps and became a quarrier at Postley Quarries in Maidstone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">By 1914, Henry and Mary Jane returned to the parish and lived in Platt Common. Thomas enlisted in Maidstone in August 1914 and joined the 2\/3rd Battalion of the King\u2019s Royal Rifle Corps. Following training, he was posted to France, arriving on 14 January 1915, and probably among a draft of 90 reinforcements taken <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">on strength of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> the 2nd Battalion, KRRC, on the 26th. At the time, the battalion had been holding a section of the line in the Cuinchy sector that ran from the B\u00e9thune-La Bass\u00e9e road to the La Bass\u00e9e Canal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">By mid-March, the battalion had taken over trenches at Gorre in the Festubert Sector and, at the end of the month, were based in the Rue du Bois area. Thomas went into action for the first time on 9 May when the Rifles attacked at the Battle of Aubers Ridge. The assault was unsuccessful, and the British sustained 11,000 casualties for no material gain, with losses in the battalion numbering 251 men.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Thomas took part in the Battle of Loos in September and remained in the sector in early October. His unit took over the line north of Le Rutoire during the evening of the 7th. At 11:00 a.m. the next day, the Germans attacked their position, and at some point in the afternoon, Thomas was gassed and sent to the nearest casualty clearing station to receive treatment. He made a reasonably swift recovery and returned to duty two weeks later.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On 22 November, while in the trenches near Hulluch, Thomas was among a small party of men sent out after dusk into No Man\u2019s Land to place 80 knife rests (metal or wooden frames on which <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">barbed wire could be strung up<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">) in front of the British line. The Battalion War Diary records one man wounded during the operation, and it seems very likely this was Thomas, who died three days later at No.1 Casualty Clearing Station in Chocques.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is buried<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in the Chocques Military Cemetery<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, and in<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> an obituary published in the <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Kent Messenger<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, his parents thanked Nobby Barnes and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Mr.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Mrs.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Holland for their <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">sympathy in the sad bereavement.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Scott Wishart<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-579","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10373,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/579\/revisions\/10373"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}