Westrope, Thomas Frederick

Thomas was the third son of Richard Victor E and Martha (nee Hall) Westrope, born on 12 October 1898 at Ashwell, Hertfordshire.  Thomas was a pupil at the Merchant Taylors School in Ashwell for primary education and then went to East Anglian School, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk as a boarder for secondary education.

Thomas enlisted on 13 March 1918 with the Royal Navy Air Service, Regimental Number 253130, and almost immediately transferred to the Royal Air Force, Regimental Number 242992, as an Air Mechanic on the seaplane carriers.  The War was almost over when Thomas joined his first ship, HMS Vindictive, and stayed in home waters.  On 8 May 1919 Thomas was aboard the HMS Pegasus when she joined the Archangel Campaign to support operations against the Bolsheviks.  Thomas survived the War and was transferred to the Royal Air Force Reserve on 3 January 1920.

Thomas was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

He is commemorated on the St Mary’s Church Ashwell Roll of Honour.

Thomas held an apprenticeship with the Standard Motor Company for two years after leaving school and then trained as a mechanical engineer at the Polytechnic, Regent Street, London for three years.  His military records state his occupation as fitter.  He was registered with the Mechanical Engineering Institute for many years after the War.  His brother’s will of 1948 records Thomas as a civil servant.

Thomas married Joyce Brockett at Steeple Morden, Hertfordshire in the 2^nd quarter 1930.  They had two children, Jillian born 1931 and Frank born 1939.

The 1939 census shows them living at Letchworth with Thomas a structural engineering assistant in the Civil Service.

Thomas died on 29 March 1970 at Letchworth, Hertfordshire.

Thomas’s father owned and ran the Westrope’s Store, grocers and drapers,  in Ashwell for many years.

Thomas’s brother Charles Hall Westrope also served in the War and survived.