Thank you to Molly Worsfold and Tim Dumas from St. Bartholomew Church in Leigh for allowing Dorking Museum to reproduce their research.
Thomas Dinnage was in Eastbourne in 1887, the oldest of four children, Edwin in 1890; Violet in 1892 and Daisy in 1894. Thomas married Edith Hurst in 1910 and presumably came to live in Leigh after that. Edith had been working as a maid at St. Aubyns School in Eastbourne, she died in 1951.
He joined the Army, and was a Sapper in the 35th Army Troop Company, Royal Engineers when he died on 6th November 1918. He is buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery in Israel some four kilometres north of the city. His grave reference there is W17.
In the Egyptian theatre of war, there was fierce fighting up to Jerusalem until mid December 1917, when the Turkish governor surrendered to General Allenby.
It seems likely that Thomas Dinnage died in the fearful ‘flu epidemic, which the whole world suffered at the end of World War One. It was said to have killed more people than the awful slaughter in the trenches in France, Belgium, Italy and Turkey.
| Born | Eastbourne, Sussex | |
| Lived | Eastbourne, Sussex | |
| Husband of | Edith Hurst | |
| Regiment | 35th Army Troops Company. Royal Engineers | |
| Number | 187480 | |
| Date of Death | 6th November 1918 | |
| Place of Death | Egypt | |
| Cause of Death | Died | |
| Age | 31 | |
| Cemetery | Jerusalem War Cemetery, Israel |
