Barker, Thomas 1918

Vis-en Artois Cemetery

Thomas Frederick Barker. Died 8 August 1918.

Thomas was the younger brother of John Barker and worked as a tilemaker at the Toutley brickworks where the family lived and worked. In the 1911 Census, he was aged only 11. He joined the Royal Berkshire regiment and served as a private ( number 45510) in the 8th Battalion. He is one of the youngest to be killed from the Wokingham Memorial. It was on the 8th August 1918 in “the advance to victory” and is commemorated on the memorial to the missing (some 9,000) at Vis-en Artois. He had previously served as number 11986 in the Devon Regiment.
A very good account of the battles around Amiens is here, we assume that this is where Thomas was killed. His poor parents, they lost 2 sons, sadly not uncommon during that war.

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