King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

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Lieutenant Thomas Henry Charles William Pritchard MC  1st/4th Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.

Thomas Henry Charles William Pritchard joined the King's Own from Officer Training Corps, commissioned to the 4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment as 2nd Lieutenant on 27th June 1917.  He was promoted Lieutenant on 27th December 1918.  He was with the 1st/4th Battalion of the King’s Own on the Western from from November 1917.  He was awarded the Military Cross on 16th September 1918.  He was still with the 1st/4th King’s Own in March 1919 when they were located near Brussels.  He is out of Army List March 1919.
Lieutenant TA Reserve of Officers, 27th December 1918. War Substantive Captain and Temporary Major 18th August 1942. Died 18th March 1974.

The Fourth Battalion The King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment and The Great War by Lieutenant Colonel W F A Wadham and Captain J Crossley, named to T H Pritchard, with a few notes by him.
Accession Number: KO2956/01

The Fourth Battalion The King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment and The Great War Early Dates Notes by Lieutenant Colonel W F A Wadham
Accession Number: KO2956/02

  
Message and Signals Note book and cover used circa Apr 1918 by 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Henry Pritchard of ‘B’ Company, 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. Entries 4 to 7 Apr 1918.
Accession Number: KO2956/03

Grave Marker of the 55th West Lancashire Division.  These were funded by the Division's Grave Registration Fund.
Accession Number: KO2956/04

Sam Browne Belt of Lieutenant T H Pritchard, 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.
Accession Number: KO2956/05

 
  
Smokers pipe “The Demon”, inscribed “THP” “1915” and “Trent”
Accession Number: KO2956/06

   
Smokers pipe, inscribed “55th Div” “1/4 KORL” “Cambrai” “Ypres” “Givenchy” “Tournai” “Leuze” “La Basse”
Accession Number: KO2956/07

Metal match box holder featuring the badge of the King’s Own.
Accession Number: KO2956/08

Carved wooden oval plaque featuring the lion of England and the words “The King’s Own”
155 mm wide and 132 mm tall, 12 mm deep.
Accession Number: KO2956/09

Lapel badge of the 55th West Lancashire Division
Accession Number: KO2956/10

German soldiers belt buckle, ‘Gott Mit Uns’ meaning ‘God with us’
Accession Number: KO2956/11

Cloth badge of the 55th West Lancashire Division, First World War
Accession Number: KO2956/12

Cloth badge of the 55th West Lancashire Division, First World War
Accession Number: KO2956/13

Cap Badge, Officers, worn by Lieutenant Thomas Henry Pritchard, 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.
Accession Number: KO2956/14

 
Pocket notebook of 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Henry Pritchard, with damage caused by bullet.
“I regret I do not know the story of this but it is my Father’s notebook which appears to have delayed a bullet doing as much damage as it might have done. He kept it on display but did not talk about it”
The address shown inside is ‘Holmstead’ Hoylake, Cheshire.
Accession Number: KO2956/15

Removed from the pocket of the notebook ko2956/15
Photograph of soldier, possibly cadet, R McDowall
Accession Number: KO2956/16

Removed from the pocket of the notebook ko2956/15
List of kit issued to Cadet Pritchard, dated 13 Jan 1917
Accession Number: KO2956/17

Removed from the pocket of the notebook ko2956/15
Counter-foil for postal order
Accession Number: KO2956/18

Removed from the pocket of the notebook ko2956/15
Army Form B 293
Pass to Cadet Pritchard, issued by Bristol University Officer Training Corps, 12 Jan 1917
Accession Number: KO2956/19

Pennant/Flag brown in colour with the badges of the King’s Own, 55th Division and a red rectangle sewn on to it.
Length: 660mm
The red rectangle being the badge of the 1st/4th Battalion within the 55th Division.
Accession Number: KO2956/20

Red rose on green leafy stem made out of thin metal and painted red and green welded on to a single rod, representing the badge of the 55th West Lancashire Division.
260mm tall and 152mm wide at it’s widest point.
Accession Number: KO2956/21

Glass ashtray, 1950s, King’s Own.
Accession Number: KO2956/22

Patch featuring the badge of the 55th West Lancashire Division on yellow background, set upon a red rectangle with two blue stripes, possibly a Royal Engineers Unit, in the interwar years or later.
Accession Number: KO2956/23

C Company, 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment enter Uccle, Belgium, Dec 1918.
Troops wearing helmets with King’s Own badges follow a mounted officer.
Accession Number: KO2956/24

The Transport Park of the 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, in the Square at Uccle, Belgium, Dec 1918
Accession Number: KO2956/25

The Transport Section of the 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment outside the Town Hall, Uccle, Dec 1918.
Accession Number: KO2956/26

Memorial to the 55th West Lancashire Division at Givenchy, France.
Accession Number: KO2956/27

Colour Party of the 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. Possibly prior to the transfer of the Colours from England to Belgium, late 1918.
Accession Number: KO2956/28

Officers of the 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment., at Uccle, Brussels, Belgium, Feb 1919.
Rear row, left to right: Padre Sayers, Lieutenant Andrews MC; Lieutenant David Burr; Lieutenant S Steeple; Lieutenant Alexander Fyfe; Lieutenant Elliott.
Middle row, left to right: Captain and Quartermaster P W Powell MC; Padre ?; Lieutenant R W Higginson; Lieutenant Frazer; Lieutenant Scott; Lieutenant R S Dane MC and Lieutenant John Wykeham Lugard.
Front row, left to right: Captain Tucker; Captain Basil Peers; Major Simpson; Lieutenant Colonel R Gardner MC; Captain Ashcroft; Captain Wilson (RAMC) and Captain Pobjee
Accession Number: KO2956/29

Card mount for the photograph ko2956/29 which records all the names of the officers. Separate for conservation reasons. Marked Photo Jules, 27 Place Communale, Molenbeek-Bruxelles.
Accession Number: KO2956/29b

Panorama No. 118 made on 9 Sep 1917 from a point near Pond Farm
Accession Number: KO2956/30

 
Christmas Card, 1918
Accession Number: KO2956/31

Booklet on the actions at Givenchy and Festubert, 9 Apr 1918 to 16 Apr 1918, named to 2nd Lieutenant T H Pritchard, ‘B’ Company, 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.
Accession Number: KO2956/32

Routine Orders, by General Sir H S Horne, KCB, KCMG, Commanding First Army, 3 Jun 1918, listing the awards for the action at Givenchy in Apr 1918.
Accession Number: KO2956/33

Press Communique, 15 Apr 1918 – The 55th Division at Givenchy, 9 Apr 1918 to 14 Apr 1918.
Accession Number: KO2956/34

Battle of Givenchy-Festurbert 9 Apr 1918 – 35 Years Ago. Typed report of the actions.
Accession Number: KO2956/35

Newspaper cutting from 12 Nov 1918 with report of the 1st/4th King’s Own in Leuze.
“THE NEWS IN LEUZE
Just at eleven o’clock I entered the little town of Leuze, which had been on of the headquarters nearest the uncertain front. In the market place were British troopers on their horses drew up in a hollow square, 3rd Dragoons, Royal Dragoons, and 10th Hussars, of the 6th Cavalry Brigade, all in fighting kit. In the centre was the 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own, Barrow men of the 55th Division, their Colonel at their head, and the old Mayor of Leuze beside him. From the windows of all the houses roundabout and even from the roofs the inhabitants looked down on the troops and heard uncomprehendingly the words of the Colonel as he read from a sheet of paper the order that ended hostilities. A trumpeter sounded the “Stand Fast.” In the narrow high street at one of end of the little square were other troops moving slowly forward, and as the notes of the bugle rose clear and crisp above the rumble of the gun carriages, these men turned with smiles of wonder and delight, and they shouted to each other; “The war is over.” For many of them this was the first news of the armistice. They passed on, without even a glimpse of the historic scene, beyond the screen of Hussars, but the tidings flashed back from the file to file, “The war is over.”
The band of the Barrow men played “God Save The King.” None heard it without a quiver of emotion. The mud stained troops paused in the crowded street, the hum of the traffic was stilled. A rippling cheer was drowned in the first notes of the Belgian hymn; the “Marseillaise” succeeded it, and the army of each Ally was thus saluted in turn. I do not think anyone heard the few choked words of the old Mayor when he tried to voice the thanks of Belgium for this day of happiness.
It was five minutes passed eleven o’clock. The Dragoons and Hussars wheeled aside and made a lane into the High Street, and through them came the Lancashire men, stepping blithely behind their band. They wore, every man of them, a Belgian or French tri-coloured ribbon; a great Belgian flag tied to an improvised staff – a branch cut from a poplar – was borne by a tall sergeant. The battalion passed into the busy street and disappeared towards Ath, and after it the cavalry flowed through Leuze as though on parade a sight to gladden the heart. The Army “carried on” briskly as though a little ashamed of the emotions which had seized us all for one unforgettable moment.”
Accession Number: KO2956/36

Hazebrouck 5A. 1:100000 Ordnance Survey, 1916, Edition Two.
Marked by Tom Pritchard with the places he was at: Watou “detailed here to join battalion Aug 1917” near Frezenberg “wounded 20 Sep 1917” Aire “May 1918” Lillers “Leave 27 Dec 1917” Reclinghem “Xmas 1917” Givenchy “wounded 28 May 1918”
Accession Number: KO2956/37

Newspaper cutting from 27 Sep 1924, The Daily Courier. Featuring articles on the 55th West Lancashire Division.
Accession Number: KO2956/38

Newspaper cutting from 19 Jan 1925, The Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury. “For those who fighting fell – the 55th Division Memorial Dedicate at Liverpool Cathedral.
Accession Number: KO2956/39

Field Glasses, First World War, named to Lieutenant T H Pritchard of the 1st/4th Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.
Accession Number: KO2950/87

Field Glasses leather case, First World War, named to Lieutenant T H Pritchard of the 1st/4th Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.
Accession Number: KO2950/88

© Images are copyright, Trustees of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum.
 You must seek permission prior to publication of any of our images.