BACON Thomas Arthur Leonard

Thomas Arthur Leonard BACON was born in 1890 at Leigh on Sea Essex England. He was the son of Samuel and Agnes Bacon. He was baptised on August 22nd 1890 at St James Curtain Rd London.
Thomas was still living in England on April 2nd 1911,he is listed on the 1911 England census with his father and siblings at the address he later gave for his father as next of kin. The 1901 census shows Samuel as a Detective Sergeant City Police and in 1911 he is a police pensioner.
Thomas had come out to Australia as a single man and married Maud O'Donnell on April 29th 1914. Shortly after they married war was declared and he enlisted in Mt Morgan on August 31st 1914 giving his occupation as carpenter. He was attached as a private to 'G' Coy 9th Battalion and sailed on September 24th on HMAT Omrah.
While Thomas was away Maude gave birth to a son Thomas Samuel Leonard Bacon but the baby died on February 13th 1915.

Thomas was wounded on April 25th 1915 in Gallipoli and was evacuated to England to be treated at the Southern General Hospital Birmingham. He went back over to the Dardenelles on August 8th and rejoined his unit at ANZAC on the 15th. He was admitted to hospital in October with dysentry and was once again evacuated to hospital in England where he was admitted to the Brook War Hospital in Woolwich on November 9th.

He had his first brush with authority while in England earning himself initially the loss of 5 days pay and then a weeks detention topped off with another 12 days and the loss of another 5 days pay.
In July he rejoined the 9th in France at Outersteene. He spent the next 5 months on the field in France and Belgium. In December he is once again in trouble being absent from a fatigue party on the 2nd - 120hours and then on the 11th failing to appear on parade 14 days.

In March he was back in hospital with dysentry before being sent back to England with Trench Fever in April. After recovering he went AWL for 4 days earning him the loss of 14 days pay and 1 day in custody. He was back in France and rejoined his battalion on August 20th 1916. In October he was in hospital again, this time in Belgium with scabies and dermatitis and he was once more transfered back to England for treatment. While in England he went on furlough and then rejoined his unit in France on February 17th 1917.

It was on May 1st 1917, while at Baupaume that he committed his worst offence, that of disobeying a lawful command. He refused in very basic language the order to prepare to go on a raiding party preferring to stay in bed, at the subsequent Field Court Martial he was convicted and sentenced to a year in detention. This was cut short after 6 months but the suspended portion was reinstated only days after he rejoined his unit. He served the full sentence before finally embarking for Australia on the Persic on July 13th. He arrived back on September 2nd 1919 and was discharged on October 26th.

There seems to be no mention anywhere of cowardice, just a very healthy lack of respect for authority which tended to get him into trouble. He isn't mentioned at all in the War Diaries and would certainly have been if he had been a problem. Working with the dates of his offences and the dates in the War diaries he never caused trouble when there was something serious happening.

Thomas and Maude are on the Electoral Rolls from 1925 living in Sandgate where he worked as a carpenter. Thomas died in Sandgate in 1972 and Maude died aged 98 in 1989.

• Gallipoli
• Pozieres
• Somme
• Ypres

Australian Electoral Rolls
Australian War Memorial - First World War Embarkation Lists
Australian War Memorial - First World War Diaries
National Archives of Australia - World War 1 Service Records
England Census
England and Wales FreeBDM Birth Index
Australian Marriage Index
Australian Death Index
Digger's image: Courtesy of State Library of Queensland