Tom Milner DRUMMOND

22 October 1915

SKIPTON SOLDIER WOUNDED

Pte. Tom Milner Drummond of the 9th West Ridings, and son of Mr. George Drummond of Cavendish Street, Skipton, was wounded in France on October 1st. While fetching water for his comrades in the trenches a bullet entered his shoulder, but which has, however, been extracted.
Writing to his parents from a military hospital at York, Pte. Drummond states:–
“Just a few lines to let you know that I’ve landed in good old Yorkshire again. We left Eataples, near Boulogne, about four o’clock yesterday morning (October 6th), and arrived here this morning at two o’clock. My wound is getting better, and if it continues to do so, you must not be surprised to find me home on sick leave shortly. This is a splendid hospital, and we have everything to make us comfortable.”
Pte. Drummond enlisted in September of last year, and has seen three months’ service in the firing line.

17 December 1915

CRAVEN AND THE WAR – PERSONAL ITEMS

Pte. Tom Milner Drummond, of the 1/6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, who was wounded while serving in France in October last, is at present home on leave. He is a son of Mr. George Drummond, Cavendish Street, enlisted in September last year, and was three months in the firing line before meeting with his mishap.

24 November 1916

SKIPTON SOLDER WOUNDED

Lance Corporal T. Drummond, son of Mr. and Mrs. Drummond, 9, Cavendish Street, Skipton, has been wounded for the second time – by a shrapnel bullet in the upper right arm. In a letter to his parents, he says the bullet is still in the arm and that it will probably be removed with the help of the X-Rays. When hit, he was in the front line and expected being relieved any minute “when the Germans put a heavy barrage on and the shells seemed to drop quite close to me.”

31 May 1918

DRUMMOND – Lance-Corporal T. M. Drummond, aged 25, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, died from wounds received in action on 19th of May, 1918.

There is a link that death cannot sever,
Love and remembrance will live for ever.

31 May 1918

Lance-Corporal T. M. Drummond, Skipton

We regret to hear that Lance-Corporal Tom Milner Drummond, West Riding Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Drummond, 7 Cavendish Street, Skipton, died of wounds on Whit Sunday in hospital in France. He was 25 years of age, and, enlisting on the outbreak of war, had been in France three years and had been thrice wounded. He was formerly in the employ of Messrs. Anderson Bros., Alexandra Shed, Skipton, and was a member of the Christ Church Choir and Young Men’s Club. His brother, Private Edgar Drummond, is a prisoner of war in Germany.

16 May 1919

DRUMMOND – In ever loving memory of our dear son and brother, Lance-Corporal Tom M. Drummond, who died of wounds on May 19th, 1918, and was interred at Bagneux Cemetery (France).

To memory ever dear.

7 Cavendish Street, Skipton.

21 May 1920

DRUMMOND – In ever loving memory of our dear son and brother, Lance-Corporal Tom M. Drummond, who died from wounds received in action May 19th, 1918.

He will sleep, but not for ever,
There will be a glorious dawn.

Cavendish Street, Skipton.

20 May 1921

DRUMMOND – In ever loving memory of our dear son and brother, L/Cpl. Tom M. Drummond, who died of wounds in France, May 19th, 1918.

“Ours in memory, thoughts and love.”

7 Cavendish Street, Skipton.

23 February 1923

ODDFELLOWS’ WAR MEMORIAL

UNVEILING CEREMONY AT A SKIPTON LODGE

OVER 200 WHO SERVED

There was a large attendance of local members of the Independent Order of Oddfellows at the Friendly Societies’ Hall, Skipton, on Saturday afternoon, on the occasion of the unveiling of a war memorial to the members of the Loyal Traveller’s Friend Lodge, I.O.O.F, M.U., who fell in the war.

The Memorial takes the form of a beautifully designed scroll within an oak frame with a glass front, the work of Mr. H. Spencer, junr., and it bears the inscription:–

LOYAL/TRAVELLER’S FRIEND LODGE,/SKIPTON DISTRICT ./I.O.O.F. ROLL OF HONOUR M.U./OF/THOSE MEMBERS OF THIS LODGE WHO FOUGHT FOR THEIR KING AND COUNTRY TO UPHOLD THE SACRED CAUSES OF BROTHERHOOD AND HUMANITY IN THE GREAT WAR, 1914–1918.

Below the inscription are the names of 173 members who served in the war, and of the 40 members who were killed. The names of the fallen occupy a central position on the scroll, and above them are the following words:–

IN MEMORIAM
OF THOSE WHO MADE THE
SUPREME SACRIFICE.
THEIR HEARTS ARE LIFTED UP
THEIR HEARTS
THAT HAVE FOREKNOWN
THE UTTER PRICE,
THEIR HEARTS BURN
UPWARD AS A FLAME
OF SPLENDOUR AND OF
SACRIFICE

The names of the fallen are as follows:– H. Armstrong, J.J. Brown, J. Barrett, Robt. Brown, W.W. Bell, A. Clayton, W.H. Coles, T.C. Chew, Tom Downes, T.M. Drummond, Jos. Emmott, Thos. Edmondson, J. Easterby, F. Gallagher, J.W. Garwood, G.E. Godwin, S.J. Hargreaves, M. Hargreaves, A. Hebden, J. Hebden, A. Hawkswell, T.E. Inman, M. Lund, R.C. [R.G.] Metcalfe, Hbt. Maudsley, Hy. Maudsley, A.J. Pimnock [Pinnock], H.Y. [Harry] Riley, T.W. Storey, J.H. Stewart, R. Spencer, J.W. Shuttleworth, Wm. Tempest, Hbt. Thompson, Fred Thornton, J.W. Varley, John Ward, J.A. Whittaker, J.W. Whittaker, and R.D. Whittaker.

The Unveiling Ceremony

The unveiling ceremony was presided over by Bro. Thos. Bellamy, and was performed by Bro. Amos Culpan, Prov. C.S., and a simple service included the singing of the hymns, ‘O God our help’ and Kipling’s Recessional, ‘God of our fathers,’ and the reading of a portion of Scripture, and the offering of a prayer by Bro. James Greenwood, of Bradford, and formerly of Skipton.

Bro. Bellamy observed that those members of the Lodge whom they were met to honour went into battle, suffered untold privations, and, in many cases, made the supreme sacrifice. They gave their lives in defence of their homes and their country. Further than that, they gave their lives for justice and freedom, and in order that we might live. It was the duty of Oddfellows, equally as much as other sections of the community, to do everything within their power to make the country better for that sacrifice. “In the time of our prosperity,” concluded Bro. Bellamy, “never let us forget those who served us in the time of our adversity.”

A Lesson of the War

Prior to unveiling the memorial, Bro. Culpan described the ceremony he had been asked to perform as one not unattended by sorrow. It was an occasion upon which one felt a desire to make their Order better for the sacrifice of its members, and to extend the true spirit of brotherhood. In nearly 4,000 of their Lodges they would find a roll of honour. Over 22,000 of their members made the supreme sacrifice, and thousands of others were ruined and shattered in health and without prospects for the future. Each and all of them ought to perform some daily service that would make the sacrifice of those men worth while. One result of the terrible ordeal of 1914 to 1918 was the creation of a better feeling between men, and a desire to break down the class barriers that formerly existed. That was one of the great lessons of the war.