Private 9319 Isaac Tonks

Killed in Action on Wednesday, 4th November 1914, age 19.
Commemorated on Panel 35 and 37 of Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

1st Bn., South Staffordshire Regiment. 22nd Brigade of 7th Division.

Husband of Mrs Mary Ann Tonks; Son of Isaac Tonks, of 24, Broad St., Wallbrook, Coseley, Bilston, Staffs.
Born: Coseley, Enlisted: Wolverhampton, Resident: Coseley.

First landed France & Flanders, 4th October 1914.
Medal entitlement: 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Soldier's Papers at National Archives did not survive.

Commemorated on the St. John's, and Christ Church, Coseley memorials.
Commemorated here because he appears on a Tipton memorial.

Link to Commonwealth War Graves Site: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1626700/

Genealogical Data

Birth of Isaac Tonks was registered June quarter 1895 in Dudley.

1901 Census
3 Edge Street, Coseley, Staffs.
Isaac Tonks (34, Puddler, born Coseley), his wife Catherine (31, born Bloxwich), and their 5 children: Thomas (9, born Coseley), Lily (8, born Coseley), Isaac (6, born Coseley), Benjamin (4, born Coseley), Arthur (1, born Coseley).

1911 Census
24 Broad Street, Wallbrook, Coseley, Staffs.
Isaac Tonks (44, Coal Miner, born Coseley), his wife Catherine (42, born Bloxwich), and their 9 children: Thomas (19, Coal Miner, born Coseley), Lily (18, born Coseley), Isaac (16 Box Filler at Blast Furnace, born Coseley), Benjamin (14, Moulder at Foundry, born Coseley), Arthur (11, School, born Coseley), Frederick (9, School, born Coseley), Joseph (7, School, born Coseley), John (5, School, born Coseley), and Samuel (1, born Coseley).

Marriage of Isaac Tonks and Mary A. Collins was registered September quarter 1914 in Dudley. A daughter, Mary Catherine La Bassee Tonks, was born on 16th January 1915, 2 months after the death of her father.

Personal Data

Isaac Tonks was born and lived in Coseley, he is recorded here as he is commemorated on St. John's Memorial in Princes End; he is not really a Tipton man.

It is very likely that Isaac was a Special Reservist before the war. His Medal Roll shows his army number as 3/9319 indicating he was 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, South Staffs. He was too young to have been a time-expired regular soldier now serving with the reserves.

The Special Reserve was established in 1907 to replace the earlier Militia force; its objective was to train men so they could easily fill vacancies in the regular battalions. A Special Reservist would begin with six months full-time training, then each year would have a 15-day training camp. The 3rd South Staffs had just finished their annual camp (10 July – 1 August at Wedgnock, near Warwick), when war was declared.

Isaac would have been immediately mobilised on 4th August, and the 3rd battalion moved to Fort Stamford (Plymouth). When the 1st Battalion arrived back in England from South Africa in September, men would transfer from the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion to bring numbers up to the full establishment; this included Isaac.

After Isaac's death, his outstanding army pay and allowances amounted to £2/6/3d (2 pounds, 6 shillings and 3 pence); this was paid to his widow, Mrs Mary Ann Tonks, in February 1916. His War Gratuity was £3/0/0d (3 pounds exactly), the value suggests that Isaac had enlisted within 12 months of his death. Payment of the War Gratuity was made in October 1919 and was split with £1 going to his widow, now re-married, Mrs Mary Ann Oliver, and £2 to his mother, Mrs Catherine Tonks.

Isaac’s widow, Mary Ann, was awarded a Widow's Pension of 15/0d (15 shillings exactly) per week for herself and her daughter, effective from 20th September 1915. The Widow's Pension element of the pension would have ceased upon her re-marriage to Isaiah Oliver in March quarter 1919; she would have been compensated by a Remarriage Gratuity which was generally equivalent to 1 year's pension. The pension element in respect of her daughter, Mary, would continue until her 16th birthday.

Isaac's brother, Benjamin Tonks, was killed on 11th June 1916 whilst serving with the 18th Lancashire Fusiliers.

Action resulting in his death

In August 1914 the 1st Battalion South Staffs had been in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. They were ordered to return to England, landing in Southampton on 19th September 1914. They were attached to the 22nd Brigade in 7th Division, and moved to Lyndhurst where the Division was being formed. They landed in Belgium on 6th October 1914 to help defend Antwerp, but arriving too late to prevent the city falling to the Germans. Instead, the 7th Division moved to Ypres, being the first British Division to serve in the 'Immortal Salient".

The South Staffs were in the thick of the first Battle of Ypres, in which the British Expeditionary Force suffered 50,000 casualties. Day after day, the British were attacked and day after day they repulsed the Germans. The battle's crisis came on 31st October when the enemy broke through the thin British line at Gheluvelt on the Menin Road and looked set to advance to Ypres. The day was saved by a valiant charge of the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, Gheluvelt was recaptured and the British lines were re-established.

There is no 1st South Staffords war diary for this period, it stops on 26th October 1914 as no officer of the battalion was left to write it. On 31st October severe losses forced the creation of composite battalions, the 1st South Staffs and 2nd Royal Warwicks combined under the command of Captain Vallentin.

Wednesday 4th November was seemingly a day of relative quiet, as only one man of the 1st South Staffs was killed - Isaac Tonks. Like the majority of the South Staffs men killed at this time, Isaac has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres.

The 1st Battalion was pulled back from the Front just days before the end of the 1st Battle of Ypres. When it had landed in Belgium just a few weeks before it had been a force of 1,100 officers and men. Now only 78 remained. Almost every officer had either been killed or wounded, and only one N.C.O., Company Sergeant Major F. Bytheway, was left to bring the men out of action.

Newspaper Cuttings

None.