Private M/281838 Thomas Snowden

BMD details:
Marriage: 2 Apr 1907 St Aidan, Billinge, Lancashire, England Thomas Snowden - 26, Coachman, Bachelor, Chapel House Billinge Emma Heinekey - 31, Schoolmistress, Spinster, 3 Newton Road Billinge Groom's Father: Abraham Snowden, (deceased), Engineer Bride's Father: Thomas Heinekey, (deceased), Collier Witness: William Thomas Hurst; Annie Heinekey Married by Banns by: F. B. A. Miller Vicar Register: Marriages 1891 - 1922, Page 120, Entry 240 Source: Original register at Wigan Archives

Family details:
Husband of Emma Snowden, of 13, Newton Rd., Billinge.

Census details:
1891 - Not found. 1901 - 20 years old 'Domestic Groom' Thomas is a servant living at Chapel House, Newton Road, Billinge which is the home of employer Richard O Mather (29). 1911 - Sees 30 years old 'Domestic Groom Thomas, wife Emma (35) and son Arthur (1) living at 42 Main Street, Billinge.

Notes:
[url=lmem.php?lmem=39]Remembered On The St. Aidan's C of E Church Memorial[/url]

Thomas was born in Newton-le Willows the son of Abraham and Maria Snowden of Vulcan, and was baptised on the 23rd of April 1882 at Wargrave Emmanuel Church. Thomas worked for over twenty years for Dr. Mather of Chapel House, Billinge as a coachman and servant, and was also a sidesman at St. Aidan`s C.E. Church. He married Emma Heinekey a schoolmistress, of 3 Newton Road, Billinge on the 2nd of April 1907 at St. Aidan`s Church, and they went to live at 13 Newton Road. Thomas joined the Motor Transport section of the Royal Army Service Corps at St. Helens in January 1917, and within a fortnight he reported sick with pleurisy. He was in hospital in Bromley, Kent but was then moved to the Canadian Ontaria Military Hospital, Orpington, Kent where he died on Sunday the 25th of February 1917 aged 35 years. He left a widow and a son Arthur who served in the Royal Navy in the Second World War. Thomas was given a military funeral on the 1st of March with some fifty soldiers attending from Billinge Hospital, and was buried in St. Aidan`s Churchyard, grave 9/187 (Newground C.E.563). His name is recorded on St. Aidan`s C.E. Church Memorial and on the family grave headstone in St. Aidan`s Churchyard, grave 9/187. Sources:- St. Helens Local History Library, Soldiers killed in the Great War; The Commonwealth War Graves Commission; St. Aidan`s Parish Magazine, April 1917; St. Aidan`s Church Registers; Wargrave Emmanuel Church Registers; The Wigan Observer, 10th of March 1917; The Wigan Examiner, 10th of March 1917. [url=http://sthelens-connect.net/sitefiles/billinge-history.pdf]Information Courtesy of The Billinge History Society[/url] [pic]tpics/Snowden_1_.jpg[/pic] [caption]The Grave of Thomas Snowden in St.Aidan's Churchyard - Image Courtesy of Jeff Keenan[/caption]