Private T W Brown, Durham Light Infantry

Private T W Brown was a patient at Beechland House. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads

Dear little sweetheart
Tis hard to say goodbye
But duty must be done
Tis harder still to leave you
But victory must be won.
Someday when your loving face
I see, you’ll find my love is
just as strong as the days that used to be.

But if it is that I am slain
& you [sic] loving face I never see again
You’ll proudly know I died a heroes
death with my face towards the
foe. So we’ll just say Au revoir
dear with hope we meet once
more

Pte T. W. Brown
DLI

Wounded on the Somme
Sep 1916

Sixteen battalions of the Durham Light Infantry fought on the Somme in 1916. These were: 2nd Battalion, 1/5th Battalion (TF), 1/6th Battalion (TF), 1/7th Battalion (TF), 1/8th Battalion (TF), 1/9th Battalion (TF), 10th (Service) Battalion, 11th (Service) Battalion, 12th (Service) Battalion, 13th (Service) Battalion, 14th (Service) Battalion, 15th (Service) Battalion, 18th (Service) Battalion (1st County), 19th (Service) Battalion (2nd County), 20th (Service) Battalion (Wearside) and the 22nd (Service) Battalion (3rd County Pioneers).

Of these, the 18th, 19th and 22nd Battalions alone did not see action during September (when Brown was wounded). It seems a reasonable assumption to make therefore that he served with one of the remaining thirteen battalions.

The National Archives has one possibility for T W Brown (76 Private T W Brown of the 1/5th Durham Light Infantry) and two possibilies for Thomas W Brown: 6/3262 Private Thomas W Brown (later 203841 Private Thomas W Brown, DLI) and 10154 Private Thomas W Brown (later 113341 Private Thomas W Brown, MGC).

There may also be other name combinations however that fit “T W Brown” and at the moment there is not enough information to go on to positively identify this man.