Thomas Frederick Gaskin's memorial, High Wycombe Cemetery
Thomas Frederick Gaskin 1894 – 1916
I was born in 1894, at 16 Osbourne Road, Acton, to Thomas and Rosalie Gaskin. Unfortunately, two of my siblings died in infancy. Nevertheless, I was the third of nine children in the family who survived to adulthood.
My father was a laundry proprietor, running a shop in Acton, and my mother assisted him with the business. As we grew up in the area, my siblings and I began to assist father with his business. First, my elder sisters, Rosalie and Florence, began to help followed by my younger sister, Annie and I. We all grew up in the area of Acton before I enlisted to the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry.
In November 1914, I decided to enlist with the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry. At this point, people were enlisting in mass at the recruitment offices due to Lord Kitchener’s call to arms. It was because of this, that when I arrived at the barracks in Bodmin, the capacity of the barracks had been exceeded 10-fold. Consequently, the facilities were in a disgusting condition and the management was incomplete. There were very few officers and non-commissioned officers to manage us and we had no uniforms or weapons.
After serving for the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry for some time, I transferred to one of the six battalions of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers on the Western Front as a Lance Corporal. The regiment was struggling to fill its ranks with Irishmen due to the strong anti-British feeling which was gaining ground amongst Republican Irish. Thus, the Fusiliers turned to British soldiers to transfer to the regiment.
The Royal Dublin Fusiliers was a regiment founded in 1881 and was one of the eight regiments raised and garrisoned in Ireland. They successfully raised six battalions for the First World War, and during the conflict it won three Victoria Crosses while fighting in Gallipoli and Palestine in addition to the Western Front. As part of the 1916 Easter Rising, Irish nationalists proclaimed the establishment of the Irish Republic and, along with some 1,600 followers, staged a rebellion against the British government in Ireland. Therefore, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers sent three battalions back to Ireland to engage with the nationalists.
I was killed in action whilst suppressing the insurrection, in its beginnings, on 5th April 1916. This was before the nationalists made their proclamation of their desire for the Republic of Ireland to be formed on Easter Monday – 24th April 1916. I received two posthumous medals as a result of my army career – the Victory Medal and the 1914-15 Star.
I am remembered on the family grave in the 1920s extension of Wycombe Cemetery, the town where Gaskin family members later settled.
Researched by Ewan Hayward, John Hampden Grammar School
