THACKER

		Source
		CWGC	SDGW	Uttoxeter Advertiser	Other
Parents	Step-father: Mr. S. Brough		Not included – he died too late to be counted	1b
Where born
When born	About 1887				4
Address	Uttoxeter			1a
Address
Spouse	Yes			1b
Children	2 under nine years old			1b
Employment Before Joining up	Assistant with Mr. S. Brough in the High Street, Uttoxeter			1a
Employment Before Joining up	Assistant to his step-father, Mr. S. Brough, fishmonger, High Street, Uttoxeter			1b
When enlisted	September 1914			1b
Where enlisted
Regiment	North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales’s)	Yes		1a, 1b	2
Regiment
Unit	1^st/5^th Bn.	Yes
Unit	1/6th (T.F.) Bn				2
Rank	Private	Yes		1a	2
Service Number	203157	Yes
Date of Death	8 May 1921	Yes		1b
Age at time of death	34			1b
Where Killed or died	England
How he died	Died				2
How he died	Long illness resulting from piercing of one of his lungs by gunshot			1b
Location of Grave or Memorial	Uttoxeter Cemetery Grave R.C. I. 128	Yes
Location of Grave or Memorial	Uttoxeter Town War Memorial (Market Place)				2, 3
Awards

Many people suffered during the war, but some underwent worse trials than others. When you read Joe Thacker’s story your heart will go out to him.

Before the war, Joe was assistant to his step-father, Mr. S. Brough, fishmonger, High Street, Uttoxeter. He had done this since he was a boy^[1b].

Joe was one of the first in Uttoxeter to offer his services at the outbreak of war, joining the North Staffordshire Regiment in at the end of August^[2] or beginning of September 1914^[1b]. He is said to have left Uttoxeter with other recruits, bound for Luton^[2].

The sources contradict on the battalion that he joined, The CWGC says that he was in the 1^st’5^th battalion, but the Staffordshire Soldiers of the Great War website says that it was the 1^st/5^th battalion^[2].

He was discharged from the army as being medically unfit in about July 1915^[1b]. We do not know what caused him to be medically unfit, but suspect that he may have been gassed.

He then attested again under Lord Derby’s scheme and was recalled in his group on the 10^th of June 1916^[1b]. After a period of training he went to France in January 1917.

Joseph was wounded on the 14^th of March 1917[1b] and in the first week of April 1917 it was reported in the Uttoxeter Advertiser^[1a] that he had received serious gunshot wounds in the right shoulder. At that time he was in hospital in France and the Uttoxeter Advertiser published an extract from a letter that a friend had written on his behalf^[1a]:

"I assure you that there is nothing to worry about at all. I am feeling much better now, and quite comfortable, and shall be coming to England as soon as I am strong enough".

As soon as he was strong enough to travel he embarked with other wounded for England, but, as his obituary in the Uttoxeter Advertiser would later report^[1b], “the hospital ship was attacked and sunk in a dastardly manner by a German submarine.”

The ship, the Lanfrane, was torpedoed without warning in the evening of the 17^th of April 1917, at the same time as another ship, the Donegal, was sunk in mid-channel^[1b]. The survivors, Joe amongst them, were rescued by a French fishing smack that was close by, and they were taken to Newhaven, from where they were transferred to hospital^[1b]. It doesn’t bear thinking about the fate of the very seriously wounded men on board – they would not have been able to get out of the sinking ship.

We know little about what befell Joe from that point until his death in May 1921, when the Uttoxeter Advertiser published his obituary^[1b]:

The death occurred at Colin Street, Uttoxeter, on Sunday, of Mr. Joseph Thacker, who had been in ill-health since his discharge from the army and took to his bed about six weeks ago. In spite of unremitting care and the constant attendance of Dr. T. Bamford he gradually sank after a trying illness most patiently borne.

According to his obituary^[1b], one of Joe’s lungs had been pieced by gunshot during the war, and this proved to be the primary cause of his death two and a half years after the war ended.