SalfordOnline.com were delighted to receive an amazing story about a young man from Salford, Thomas Henry Frith, who not only enlisted twice in the army, both times whilst underage, but was also credited with being the British Army’s tallest soldier.
Thomas was born on 27 January 1897, the son of Francis Henry and Mary Hannah Frith, at 141 Oldfield Road, Salford. Several years after the family moved two doors away to the Village Blacksmith Tavern on Oldfield Road and by 1911 the family had moved to Windsor Street, Pendleton.
Then 14, young Thomas was employed as a ‘nipper’ for a local railway company.
Thomas certainly developed a taste for adventure and in October 1913 with false documents he enlisted at Halifax with the West Riding Regiment.
Official papers show his height as being 6ft 2 in and his occupation as a concrete worker.
This was 100 years ago, when the average height of a man was just 5ft 6in, some three inches shorter than the average today.
By all accounts young Thomas was still a growing boy and still only 16 years of age.
However his mother wrote to the Regiments Commanding Officer and asked if Thomas could come home as he was her eldest child and she needed his support as a money-earner.
This letter was passed onto the Chief Constable of Salford who confirmed that Thomas was indeed underage and was needed at home, also there was a guarantee of permanent employment with a local builder if he was discharged.
This didn’t put Thomas off because in June 1914 he once again enlisted with the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, Manchester, still only 17 years of age and too young to be accepted into the British Army. No doubt his height, which was now recorded as being 6 ft 8 in helped his cause.
In fact a story appeared in the local press describing him as the “Tallest Soldier in the British Army” and was pictured towering over four of his comrades with his arms outstretched.
War was declared in August 1914, however Frith was held back from going on active service until he was almost 19 years of age, the minimum age for serving overseas.
After a period of training, Thomas got his wish and was posted to the Greek island of Imbros with the 11th Service Battalion, Manchester Regiment, after serving in Egypt he was shipped of to France in time for the Battle of the Somme.
He spent two months in training and finally on 19 September he moved closer to the front line, moving into trenches at Mouquet Farm, a fortified German position outside the village of Pozieres.
The place was known to British troops as ‘Mucky Farm’ and had been a strategic objective since the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1 1916.
The British Army had resisted all German attempts at capture and Thomas remained here until 23 September before moving to the reserve trenches.
On 26 September his battalion was in reserve at Crucifix Corner near Aveluy.
At 11am that day they moved to Ovillers and at 3.28pm they attacked the enemy redoubt at Mouquet Farm which finally fell to British troops.
Sadly at some point in the action, Thomas – aged just 19 – was struck down by enemy fire. His body was never recovered from the battlefield.
Thomas is remembered with his name being inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial, just half a mile from Mouquet Farm in northern France, along with the names of 72,000 other missing soldiers whose bodies were never found.
What a sad story of a young man who had tried to enlist in the British Army not just once but twice before he was aged 18, a young man with a full life ahead of him.
