446695 Sergeant Thomas William Rawlings was a 30 year old blacksmith originally from Newcastle-on-Tyne when he attested into the 56th Battalion in Calgary in May 1915. In the UK he was transferred to the 10th Battalion and from there sent in a reinforcement draft to the 15th Battalion in June 1916. Private Rawlings was initially posted to No. 3 Company but later assigned to the Battalion’s Machine Gun Section. He served on the Somme in the Fall of 1916 and had been moved again and was a Lance Corporal with No. 4 Company when he suffered a gun shot wound to the arm at Vimy in April 1917.
Following medical treatment in the UK he was discharged from hospital and attached to the Canadian Forestry Corps in November 1917. He became ill in February 1918 and was reassigned to the 5th Reserve Battalion while undergoing medical treatment for acute endocarditis at the King’s Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital, Bushy Park which had a special clinic for heart disease. Unfortunately his condition became severe and he died on May 24, 1918. Sergeant Rawlings is buried in Crook & Willington (Willington) Cemetery, Durham, UK
NOK: Husband of Hester Smailes (formerly Rawlings) of 8, Cross St., Oakenshaw, Willington. Mrs. J.W. Rawlings (W) 8 Cross St., Oakenshaw, Durham, England