Thomas Reginald Heap was the third son of William Heap and Alice Shaw Butterick who married by licence on 16 May 1886 at Selby Abbey.

Both bride and groom lived in Selby at the time of their marriage and William was earning his living as a bank cashier.

The couple began their married life in the Selby area and by the time the 1871 census was taken they were living at West Field, Brayton. William was still employed as a bank cashier and employed a live-in domestic servant.

They had two daughters at home and their son John was staying with his maternal grandparents in Brighouse.  Two more children were born before Thomas Reginald was born on 16 July 1880 in Thirsk.

It is not known whether the family had moved house, or were visiting the area when Thomas was born, but by the time the next census return was made the following April the family lived on Gowthorpe in Selby.

The five younger children were all at home and eldest child John was at boarding school in Skipton.  In the autumn of 1885 Alice gave birth to her fourth son, Edmund and by 1887 William had been promoted to Bank Manager.

The family had moved to The Crescent in Selby in the accommodation available at the Yorkshire Banking Company building. In February 1887 Thomas’ sister Elizabeth and younger brother Edmund were baptised at Selby Abbey.

Eight-year-old Thomas, along with older siblings Ada, Alice and James were all baptised in the  Abbey on 5 February 1888. Sadly Thomas’ sister Alice died at the age of seventeen the following year.

In April 1891 when the next census was taken, the Heap family was still living on The Crescent - Thomas’ eldest brother John was back at home and working in the bank as a clerk. Ten-year-old Thomas was still at school, as was his older brother James. Two maternal aunts were living in the home as well as a cook and a housemaid. 

We know from the Selby Times that Thomas was educated at St Peter’s School. He was 16 when he was apprenticed into the Merchant Navy in April 1897; due to complete a four-year apprenticeship in 1901, but it was cancelled in October 1898 when he was appointed Midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve.

He was issued with service number 1092 and by August 1906 had been promoted to Sub Lieutenant, full lieutenant in February 1908.

The Selby Times described Thomas’ time in the navy as ‘a varied and adventurous career’  and reported that he had travelled five times around the world and visited every continent.

By 1901 Thomas’s family had moved to Pymble in Selby and his mother, Alice died in 1908 aged 63. She was buried in the churchyard of St. Wilfred’s church, Brayton.

On 4 March 1911, aged 30 and living at 35 Hogarth Road, Thomas married Florence Elinor Primrose Harding, known as Primrose, at Saint Jude’s church, South Kensington. He recorded his occupation as Seafarer, though he retired from the sea, and following a honeymoon on the south coast, on 8 March the couple boarded the Royal Edward in Avonmouth bound for a new life, farming, in Canada.

With the outbreak of war, Thomas was recalled for duty and returned from Canada to resume his life at sea early in 1915.. After several months service, in February 1916, he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and granted extended leave in order to return home to Canada in April/May 1916.

That November, Primrose travelled back from Canada to spend a few days with Thomas before he went back to sea aboard HMT Burnley.  Built as a steam fishing trawler in 1916 but hired by the admiralty as a minesweeper, on 25 November the trawler was sunk, and all hands lost when she hit a mine laid by German submarine UC-4. 

The Heritage Gateway site quotes: ’Reverting again to the Harwich minesweepers, there was the trawler BURNLEY, commanded by Lieutenant Heap, RNR, who, on November 25th, 1916, heard an explosion out at sea off Orfordness, sent his other ships into harbour, and himself went out to investigate. The BURNLEY struck a mine and was lost with all hands.' 

Nineteen men were lost. Neither the vessel nor her crew were found and as the Selby Times reported on 8 December 1916 ‘Lieut Commander Heap’s grave is in the deep sea which he had traversed for so many years, no trace of his remains having been found.’ 

Thomas was 35 years old.

He is remembered on the war memorial in Selby Abbey and he & the other eighteen men lost that day are remembered on the Harwich Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Auxiliary and Minesweeping Patrol Memorial on Harwich sea front.

For his service to his country, he earned the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. In July 1920 Primrose married Geoffrey Douglas Few in Jamaica. After many years of travelling she died in 1963 in Middlesex.

Thomas’ younger brother Edmund attested into the Canadian army, in 1915 ,serving in 65th, 53rd, 15th and 28th Battalions and earned the same medals as Thomas. Thomas’ father died in 1928 and was buried in the churchyard at Brayton.

Thomas, along with his siblings, is also remembered on his parents’ headstone.