Lance/Corporal Thomas Noble
19598 1st East Lancashire Regiment
Killed in Action 1st July 1916, aged 31
Lived at 7 Lee Street
Buried in Serre Road Cemetery No. 1, France - VII.B.21
Burnley Express 18th September 1915 - 26th July 1916 - 12th August 1916 - 20th October 1917

Tom Noble was the husband of the late Lucy Noble of 7 Lee Street, Burnley. He originally joined the 5th Battalion East Lancashire Regiment (Territorials) and later was transferred as Lance Corporal 19598 to the 1st Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment. He was killed in action aged 31 on Saturday 1st July 1916 on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme. He is buried at Serre Road Cemetery No 1 in Grave VII B 21.

The Burnley Express of 26th July 1916 reported that:-
“Two Orphan Children. Burnley Football Referee Killed.
A particularly pathetic tragedy of the war has been occasioned by the death in action of Lce.-Corpl. Thomas Noble, of the Lewis Rifle Detachment of the East Lancashire Regiment. Lce. Corpl. Noble, who would have been 32 years of age on August 1st, lost his wife, Mrs Lucy Noble in August of last year in tragic circumstances. She was returning home from her work when she collapsed in Abel Street, and died immediately. The husband, who had only just rejoined his regiment after leave for Burnley Fair, was then in the and should have sailed to the Dardenelles on the day before his wife’s funeral. He was, however, given another leave and did not make the journey to the Near East. He was trained as a machine gunner, and then sent to France in January 1916 attached to a line battalion. The official notice from the War office was received by his mother in-law of 15 Lee Street and says that he was killed in action on July 1st. Before enlisting he was a warehouseman at Messrs Stuttard’s Primrose Mill. He was connected with St. Margaret’s Church. He was well known and well liked as an affiliated referee of the Lancashire Football Association. He leaves 2 children (orphans) a girl aged 11 and a boy aged 6 who are living with his mother in law. “

The Burnley Express had previously reported
“Soldier’s Wife’s Death- Husband Ordered to Front.
Receiving word that her husband, a soldier in the East Lancashire Regiment, was under orders for active service, a Burnley woman named Lucy Noble of 7, Lee Street, became upset. While returning from work at noon on Monday she had a seizure in the street, and she died about three o’clock in the afternoon.
Mr Coroner Sutcliffe held an inquest on the body at the Victoria Hospital yesterday afternoon when the mother of the deceased said her daughter was a cotton winder, and 30 years of age.
It was stated the deceased had been a healthy woman up to receiving the letter. On the way to work on Monday morning she called at her mother’s house and had a cup of tea and appeared all right. She worked throughout the morning, but on returning home she had reached the corner of Abel street and Old Hall Street when she fell. She was carried to her mother’s house and Dr. Scott sent for. He attended her twice, but death took place as stated above.
After hearing the evidence of the people who picked deceased up, the jury returned a verdict of ‘Death from natural causes’.”

Unfortunately tragedy struck again and just a few days after Tom Noble's death at the front the Burnley Express reported;-
“War Orphan’s Death. Sad Burnley Story.
One of the most touching stories which has come to light in Burnley during the war is that surrounding the Noble family of Lee Street. Before the war started there was a happy home at no. 7 where resided Thomas Noble a warehouseman at Messrs. Stuttard’s Primrose Mill, his wife and two children. The father was well known referee for the Burnley Sunday School Football League and an affiliated referee of the Lancashire Football association, and an ardent conservative worker. But then came the great war, and the father joined the Burnley Territorials to take part in greater fights. Just after Burnley Fair of last year, he rejoined his regiment, and should have sailed for the Dardenelles in September. A great blow fell on him and his family a day or so before he was due to set sail, for his wife, Mrs Lucy Noble, collapsed in Abel street whilst returning from her work on September 20th, and died immediately. The father had another leave – a very sorrowing one – and then was trained as a machine gunner and sent out to France in January to a line battalion. Here, on July 1st he paid the last sacrifice, and laid down his life for his country, leaving two little orphans to the care of his own and his wife’s relatives. And now on Wednesday afternoon, the elder of the fatherless and motherless bairns died, making the third death in the family circle within thirteen months. The child was Doris, who was eleven years of age and she was a very bright and merry girl until death threw its shadow over the home. After her mother’s death, she and her six year old brother Tom went to live with their maternal grandmother, Mrs Harrison of 15, Lee Street, and everything humanly possible has been done to make them comfortable and happy. When Doris was told about her mother’s death, and then her father’s she never shed a tear, and never once did she murmur or complain, but to her relatives it was apparent she had been fretting. She still went to the Abel Street day school, and to St. Peter’s Sunday school. Gradually her health gave cause for anxiety, and a fortnight ago her relatives took her to St. Annes, in the hope that a change of air and new surroundings might lead to am improvement in her condition. These hopes, were however not realised and it was necessary to bring her back home, where she died of bronchitis and heart failure. The little girl’s funeral will take place on Monday at Wheatley Lane, but before the internment a service will be held in St. Margaret’s Church – where her father attended - at 12.45.”

Notes
Burnley Express July 26th 1916. Roll of Honour.
“Noble – killed in action on July 1st. Lance Corporal Thomas Noble of the East Lancashire Regt., formerly of 7 Lee Street, Burnley aged 31- from his children and mother-in-law , 15 Lee Street, Burnley.
Burnley Express July 29th 1916. Roll of Honour.
“Noble – killed in action on July 1st. Lance Corporal Thomas Noble of the East Lancashire Regt.- from his loving aunt Mrs Ainsworth, 119 Grey Street, Burnley.

Wedding on 26/12/04 at St Peter’s Church. Thomas Noble bachelor aged 20 warehouseman of 28, Talbot Street, married Florence Harrison, spinster aged 20, dressmaker, of 33 Lee Street. Witnesses were James Halstead and Florence (Harrison?)

November 2001- Tom Noble - Private - a white cross in memory placed for Remembrance Sunday outside the Thompson Centre.

1st July 1916 - 165 men and 7 officers from the 1st Battalion were killed on the first day of the battle of the Somme.

Junction of Abel St & Old Hall St 2009