Thomas Knowles was born in Point Edward, on January 28, 1891, the eldest son of John Knowles (a locomotive fireman and retail shoe merchant) and Hughmina Elizabeth (nee Mooney) Knowles, of 335 London Road, Sarnia. His siblings included Sarah (born 1887); John William (born 1890); Mina (born 1892); and Bernice (born 1909). Born in Pont Edward, Thomas spent his boyhood days in that village, and later in Sarnia, where he was a popular young man with many friends. Prior to enlisting, he was employed with the Mooney Biscuit Company of Stratford. Thomas enlisted on October 6, 1915, in Stratford, Ontario with the Depot Regiment, Canadian Rifles. A bachelor, Thomas was living in Stratford at the time and listed his occupation as candy maker. Thomas’ brother, John William, would also leave Sarnia in October of 1915, for London, Ontario to take a course at the Military school there in preparation to enlist for active service.
Thomas Knowles went overseas in April of 1916 and crossed over into France in November of 1916. He became a member of the Army, Canadian Cavalry, Royal Canadian Dragoons, 1st Armoured Regiment, with the rank of Lance Corporal. On March 30, 1918, Thomas Knowles would lose his life while fighting in the significant battle of Delville Wood, France. While taking part in a Cavalry charge near the Bois de Moreuil, he was hit just below the heart and “instantly killed by a bullet from an enemy rifle.” Thomas Knowles would officially be listed as, Killed in Action. In April of 1918, Thomas’ father, John, would receive the following telegram in Sarnia:
Ottawa, Ont. April 18th
John Knowles, 335 London Road, Sarnia, Ont.
Sincerely regret to inform you 226125 Private Thos. Neville Knowles, Cavalry, officially reported killed in action March 30th 1918. Director of Records
In May of 1918, the Sarnia Observer published a review of the engagement in which two Sarnians participated: Private Thomas Knowles lost his life and Private Leonard Galloway received serious injuries. Both men were attached to the Royal Canadian Dragoons. Following is the article:
Review of Great Battle in Which Sarnia Boys Played a Big Part
The commander in chief has mentioned the splendid work of the British cavalry in the recent fighting and I am now able to write things which I wanted to write before because in the first days of this battle I saw cavalry riding out to meet the enemy round about Ham and Guiscard, and afterward on patrol work below Delville Wood and Pozieres. From March 22 onward they fought mounted and dismounted, helped to stop gaps in the line and stem the German tide, charged Germans on foot and Germans on horseback, cleared woods and roads with machine guns and rifles, rode out in patrols to reconnoiter the enemy’s position, chased German advance guards out of villages and acted as rearguards to the British infantry. Their losses were not light but light for all the service they did on the hours and days and nights of grave peril.
On March 22 they dismounted and held the Ollezy-Ham line when the enemy was bearing down in vast numbers, and some dragoons fought all night, covering the withdrawal of the tired troops. They could leave only a few men to look after the horses and it was the men of a labor battalion who one night led their horses to the next position, each man with 15 horses tied together on one rope, which was not an easy job on a dark night, with poor, frightened beasts.
The British cavalry had hard fighting around Guivry, and on the 26th they moved up to help the French, who were meeting the enemy hordes bearing down on Noyon. The British squadrons had their left flank exposed when they were ordered to hold Porquericot Ridge, on which the enemy was moving. They went at full speed, pressing their horses forward to something like a gallop, and the infantry soldiers cheered at the sight of this living tide of fine men and fine beasts streaming over the slopes. The enemy was already on the ridge, but the cavalry held the southern side of it, stopping the enemy from gaining the height.
When the allied line withdrew to the Driette river it was necessary for the cavalry to conform to this movement which they did with the enemy again on their left flank, so that the Lancers, Hussars and Canadian cavalry were under furious machine gun fire. After supporting the British infantry near Marcelcave, the dismounted cavalry with one mounted squadron, made a gallant attack through Morepil Wood and cleared out the enemy. Afterward, however, it was again filled with Germans who had many machine guns and the cavalry were again asked to clear it. It was a perilous task, for two battalions of the enemy held the wood, and their machine gun fire swept through the glades; but in this wood of Moreuil on the morning of April 1 British cavalry performed a feat as fine as the Balaklava charge, and this also should be made into a ballad and learned by heart.
Twelve hundred men who had been riding all through the night went forward in three waves and charged that dark wood next morning at a hard gallop. The first wave rode to the edge of the wood, and the second to the centre, and the third wave went right through to the other side, riding through the enemy and over his machine guns and in the face of a hail of bullets from hidden machines. They cleared the wood of Moreuil and brought back prisoners and thirteen machine guns, but there were many empty saddles, and many men and horses fell.
That was the finest exploit of the British cavalry, but elsewhere it did splendid work, and everywhere the men were gallant and cool, as when some of the dragoons came under a heavy shrapnel fire near Gentille, and many men had to shoot their wounded horses to put them out of their agony.
Twenty-seven year old Thomas Knowles has no known grave. He is memorialized on the Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calasi, France. On the Sarnia cenotaph, his name is inscribed as N. Knowles.
SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, L, N, 2C, 2D, 2G