Thomas William Gatehouse

Story:
Thomas William Gatehouse was born on 30th April 1880 in Shaftesbury, Dorset, and baptised at Cann Parish Church on 12th June 1881, the son of James Howe Gatehouse and Mary Gatehouse (née Farmer).  He spent his childhood with his family at Ivy Cross, Shaftesbury.   He married Evangeline Mary Read at St. Martin's Church, Zeals, Wiltshire, on 5th March 1912.  They went on to have five children.  Thomas had had 12 years previous service with the Dorsetshire Regiment and had served in Malta, India and South Africa and was the holder of the Queen's South African Medal with Clasps and had been discharged to the reserves.  He was embodied on 26th November 1914 and joined the Somerset Light Infantry as a Private (Service No. 12547).  He served in France from 31 Dec 1916 and later received a serious gun shot wound to the head and lesser ones to the right hand.  He was eventually discharged on 17th March 1919 and was awarded the Victory and British War medals as well as a Life pension.   The 1921 Census shows he was living at Slow Pit Cottages, Winscombe, Axbridge, Somerst, working as a Quarryman. By the time of the 1939 Register he had moved to Walnut Farm, Sandfords, Somerset, still working as a quarryman.  He died in the Weston Super Mare Registration area in 1965.  His brothers, Ernest Edward, Sidney Herbert, Percy George and Charles Howe, also served in the conflict and survived whilst his nephew, Victor Stokes, was killed during the war in an accident.  His remaining brother, Walter John, was purported to have served in the war but no reliable military record can be found.