Thomas Ryan was a career soldier with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He enlisted at Naas in County Kildare on 18th August 1894 and served with the 2nd Battalion for 22 years. Thomas was the son of Edmund and Anne Ryan and was born in Thurles, County Tipperary in 1876. Edmund was a bootmaker.
After initial training Thomas was posted to the 2nd Battalion who were serving in India on 10th February 1896. The Battalion then moved to South Africa on 18th May 1897 based in Natal Colony. The Battalion was there when the Boers declared war and invaded Natal on 20th October 1899.
Thomas’s army records show that he took part in the Battle of Talana Hill, Battle of the Tugela Heights and the Relief of Ladysmith. He received both the Queen’s and the King’s South Africa Medals. The Battalion left South Africa in February 1902 for India. They returned home in November 1903 and were garrisoned at Buttevant, County Cork. While in Buttevant, Thomas met and courted Gianey Anne Jones (who had been born in Llanrwst, Denbighshire, Wales).
They were married at the Mallow Registry Office in County Cork on 24th February 1906. Their first son, David Edward Ryan, was born in Fermoy on 16th October 1908. The Battalion moved to Aldershot in England in 1910 and remained there until the outbreak of war. At some point Gianey moved to Stockport, living at 44, Grenville Street, Edgeley, Stockport and later at 51, Northgate Road, Edgeley, Stockport.
Thomas sailed for France with the Battalion landing on 24th August 1914. They took part in the Battle of Le Cateau on 26th August. Thomas took part in further actions in 1914 including the Battle of the Aisne and Battle of Messines. The Battalion was attacked by poisonous gas on 24th May 1915 and took heavy casualties. It is likely that Thomas was injured in this attack. He appears to have returned to Stockport during 1915 but then gone back to the Battalion on temporary duty with the chaplains. His second son Thomas (Junior) was born in June 1916.
Thomas was discharged, injured from the effects of gas, on 20th September 1916 with a pension of 13½ pence per day. He died 18 months later in Stockport on 22nd March 1918. Guaney received a widow’s pension of 25 shillings and 5 pence per week. She had moved to 144, Grenville Street, Edgeley, Stockport by the end of the War.
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission. “Find War Dead”.
- War Office: Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ WO363. The National Archives of the UK.
- ‘Thomas Ryan’, (1906), Certified copy of Marriage Certificate for Thomas Ryan and Gianey Anne Jones, 24 February 1906, No. 19 Mallow.
- Wikipedia contributors, 'Royal Dublin Fusiliers', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia 2018.
- ‘David Edward Ryan’, (1908), Certified copy of Birth Certificate for David Edward Ryan, 16 October 1908, No 345 Fermoy.
- Army Medal Office. WWI Medal Index Cards. In the care of The Western Front.
- Free BMD Births Jun 1916, Ryan, Thomas, Mother’s Maiden Name: Jones, Stockport, Vol 8a, Page 121.
- Wells, Dominic “The Soldiers of St. Joseph’s Parish” 2018.
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