A Dublin men 22 yrs service - deserter, good soldier, Egypt, Sudan, WW1 POW, etc

phaethon

Thomas Rice

5945, Private

Royal Dublin Fusiliers

Thomas was born St.Catherine’sparish (St.Catherine’s church, Thomas Street) at 1873. He had a sister Agneswho lived at 127 Thomas Street, according to the 1901 and 1911 censuses ofIreland. They were Roman Catholics. Based on his enlistment documents, Thomaswas a professional cricketer. He was 5 feet 5 ¾ inches tall, he weighed 161pounds, and his eyes were hazel and he had hair brown.
He enlisted in the Royal DublinFusiliers in Dublin on the 2nd December 1896 aged 23 for 7 years with theColours and 5 years in Reserve. Private Rice was assigned on 5th December 1896to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers garrison depot in Naas. After his initialtraining, Thomas was posted to the 1st battalion on 8th January 1897. At thistime, the battalion was stationed in Portsmouth at Anglesey Barracks. But inApril of that year, they were moved by rail to Aldershot, quartered inRamillies Barracks, North Camp. When the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations took place,they were taken up to London and were lining up in Piccadilly from HamiltonPlace to the Naval and Military Club, Lord Palmerston’s old house.
One of the biggest changes atthis time for a regular soldier was the move to the Lee-Metford Rifle, Mark IIin autumn 1898 and also new pattern cap badges were issued with the scroll“Royal Dublin Fusiliers” surmounted by a flaming grenade, on the ball of whichwere the tiger and elephant.
Thomas was granted his first goodconduct badge on 2nd December 1898. The following year, the Boer war broke outand the 1st Battalion was attached to the 5th (Irish) Brigade under MajorGeneral Fitzroy Hart. On the 10th November 1899, the battalion sent threecompanies out to South Africa. Somehow, Thomas wasn’t one of the soldiers whowere sent abroad.
Instead, his service papersreveal that he deserted on the 13th July 1901 and was in prison after a trialfrom 25th October 1901. On the 27th December 1901, however, he returned back toduty.
His next change took place on the10th November 1903, when he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion of RoyalDublin Fusiliers. At the same time, the 2nd battalion returned from SouthAfrica and were stationed in Buttevant, county Cork.
The following month, on the 26thDecember 1903, he was granted a Good Conduct Pay. He was permitted to extendhis service to complete 8 year’s service with the colours on 31st March 1904and received a Class I Service Proficiency Pay on the following day on the 1stApril 1904.
He must have been an excellent soldierbecause this change was made and his period of desertion and prison time becamecounted as service as well (233 days). The following year, on the 11th March1905, he extended his service again to complete 12 year’s service with thecolours. Other wise his stay in Buttevant was uneventful.
On the 27th September 1905,Private Rice was posted back to the 1st Battalion. At this time, the battalion werestationed in Malta but he was ready to move to Egypt, where four companies hadalready embarked. Thomas served 50 days in Malta and was shipped to Egypt onthe 16th November 1905 on board the Assaye, where the whole battalionwas reunited. This was routine for peace soldiering in Alexandria. On the 5thApril 1907, Field-Marshall H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught visited Alexandria andpresented new Colours to the 1st Battalion.
Towards the end of September 1907orders were received for Headquarters and “A”, “C”, “F” and “H” companies weresent to Khartoum, the Sudan. Thomas left for the Sudan on the 17th October 1907.Here, they became the first British Camel Corps in the Sudan. Soldiers fromthis formation took part in operations against the Abd-el-Kader.
All the companies were sent backto Alexandria the following year. Private Rice arrived back in Alexandria onthe 4th September 1908. The whole battalion were stationed together in theCitadel Barracks in Cairo. Early the next year Private Rice signed a newcontract with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in order to complete 21 years with thecolours.
On the 25th March 1909Field-Marshall H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught visited Cairo in order to present theKhedive’s Sudan Medals to soldiers who were entitled to them for theirparticipation in the Sudanese campaign. But something happened a few weeks beforewith Thomas because he was sent back to England as an invalid on the 13th March1909.
After his recovery, he wastransferred to the 2nd Battalion on the 15th June 1909. At this time they werestill based at Buttevant, county Cork, but the following year they were movedto Aldershot, England. On the 10th April 1912, he became Lance Corporal.
When the Great War broke out on the 28th July1914, on the 4th August 1914, 5.5 p.m. theorder for mobilization was published. At this time, the 2nd Battalionwas in Gravesend as part of 10th Brigade in 4thDivision, commanded by Brigadier-General J.A.L. Halden C.B., D.S.O.
On the8th of August at 12:30 a.m. the unit was moved to Harrow, where the wholeDivision was concentrated. After a short period of preparations, the divisionwas attached to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and on the 20th of Augustorders were announced that Saturday 22nd Division will be departed. On that day,the 2nd Battalion embarked on the S.S. “Caledonia” and at 11:30 a.m.started sailing to France which included Thomas on board.
PrivateRice landed in France on 23rd August 1914 where the whole battalion foundthemselves in heavy battles almost immediately. They took part in theretreat following the Battleof Mons, taking part in their first engagement on 26th of August 1914 atLe Cateau that helped delay the German advance towards Paris, inflicting such heavy casualties that the Germansthought they faced more machine-guns than they actually did. But many soldierswere taken prisoner during the retreat and including Thomas Rice who became a POWon the 27th August 1914. He was held in the Giessen prison camp in the Provinceof Hesse, Germany. Giessen was a well ordered camp with good sanitary conditionsand clean water. It also had a church, Roman Catholic choir, etc. From thiscamp, the men were sent out to work as labourers on local farms. A typicalroutine of the POW camp was as follows: Reveille sounded at six. The prisonersgot up and dressed and were given a bowl of coffee. Those who were wise wouldsave their issue of bread from the night before, and so able to have it withtheir coffee. After morning coffee, there was a roll-call, when prisoners weregiven a chance to volunteer for work. At noon there was soup, and anotherroll-call. Interestingly, the POWs answered the roll-call, either with theFrench word "Présent" or the German word "Hier," pronouncedthe same as "Here". At five o’clock, there was usually an issue ofblack bread made mostly from potato flour.
He was released on 17th November1918 and was sent back to Royal Dublin Fusiliers depot. On the 23 November 1918,he received a special furlough and was posted to the rest camp in Dublin from1st December 1919. But because of his age, length of service, he was dischargedon the 30th March 1919 and medical commission gave him a degree of disablement10%.
Most likely, Thomas started towork on the sporting field because the military issued an “Employment Sheet”that stated “Character Very Good. Is a very good cricketer and was a goodfootballer until age prevented playing. Would make a very good trainer orground man”.
Finally, in 1920 he received a LongService and good Conduct Medal for his service with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.That also gave him £5 extra pension payment. For his 1914 Star he applied a“Clasp and Rose” and this was granted for him on the 27th September 1920.

uniquely irish

Hi to all,

I have seen the actual Star medal with number 5945.

L . Col. T Rice
R. Dub : Fusion

Beautifully condition no damage.

If interested I can try and contact the person that I know had it and see if he still has it .

If interests , please let me know.