Binstead

Thomas Robert Binstead

Appears as:

Born:

Parents:

Unit:

No.:

Rank:

Died:

Grave/Memorial:

Binstead, Thomas R

1896, Ewhurst, Surrey

Thomas Price and Mary Ann (née Pallett)

15th (The King's) Hussars

10907

Private

30 March 1918, age 23

Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France, Panels 4/5

Biography:
Thomas was born Thomas Robert Price, in 1896, in Ewhurst, Surrey to Thomas Robert Price, a coachman, and his wife Mary Ann
(née Pallett). His father, Thomas senior, died the following year, just before the birth of his daughter.

After his mother remarried in 1901, Thomas took the surname of his step-father, George William Binstead. In 1911, the family was
living at Stafford Lake, Knaphill, having moved there in about 1902/3. George was working as a carter at a golf course and
Thomas, then aged 14 and having just left school (he was educated at Knaphill School), was also working at the golf course as a
general hand.

In 1914, Thomas joined the army, about six months prior to the outbreak of war. He was with the 15th (The King’s) Hussars.
Thomas was in action in August 1914, took part in the retreat from Mons and came under gas attack in 1915. He was invalided
home in November 1916, suffering from the effects of the gas. In November the following year, he returned to his unit.

The 15th Hussars, in March 1918, took part in the defence against the German Spring Offensive (Operation Michael). Thomas
Robert Binstead was killed on 30 March 1918. His final resting place is unknown; his name, with others of his regiment, appears on
Panels 4 & 5 of the Pozieres Memorial.

The Pozieres Memorial relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across
the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates
over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to
7 August 1918.