1914-15 Star

Thomas Alfred Barnett was born in Manchester in 1894. He lived at 1 Mellor Road, Ardwick before moving to 16 South Grove in Chorlton-Upon-Medlock. He lived with his father, John, and his mother, Sarah. He attended St Agnes Church in Rusholme which is where he was baptised. His father was a mechanic in a warehouse whilst his mother stayed at home. Thomas had six siblings, two brothers and four sisters of which he was the second oldest. Thomas worked as a university library assistant.

Thomas enlisted in the Army in Manchester, although the exact date is unknown. He was given the service number 1347 and placed into ‘D’ Company in the 1/7th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment.

Little is known of Thomas’s early service, although he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. He was first deployed to the Gallipoli campaign in May 1915.

Thomas was killed on the 29th May at Gallipoli. He was 21 years old. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial in Turkey along with 20,955 others.

Thomas was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Allied Victory Medal. However, only the 1914-15 Star is known to have survived. It was donated to the museum collections in 2014.