Joseph H Tombs VC

Lance-Corporal Joseph Tombs served in the 1st Battalion, King’s Liverpool Regiment when he carried out his acts of bravery that brought him the Victoria Cross. On 15 June 1915, near Rue du Bois, on his own initiative, he crawled out repeatedly under heavy shell and machine-gun fire, to bring in wounded men who were lying about 100 yards in front of his trench. He rescued four men, one of whom he dragged back by means of a rifle sling placed round his own neck and the man’s body. This man was severely wounded and would have died without immediate medical attention.
There is some confusion about Tombs’s name and place of birth. He was born as Frederick Griffith Tombs but later called Joseph Henry (or Harcourt) Tombs. He was born on 24 Mar 1887, at either Erdington or Sparkbrook, Birmingham. His father, Frederick, moved around for his work as a grocer, commercial traveller and political agent. Joseph enlisted in the 3rd Battalion King’s Regiment in March 1912 and was promoted to Lance-Corporal in June 1913. He joined the 1st Battalion in France on 23 Mar 1915. He was gazetted for the VC on 24 Jul 1915, and also awarded the Russian Cross of the Order of St George 4th Class, on 25 Aug 1915. He came back to England but his wounds precluded him from further active service so he was employed on munitions.
In February 1917 he married Ellen Rowlands and after his discharge in 1919 he joined the Merchant Navy, and in 1921 found employment in Canada. While he was away, Ellen died in August 1921. Joseph re-married in 1925 to Minnie McCarthy in Canada. Neither marriage produced children. When war broke out in 1939 he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. After the war Joseph suffered from medical problems and lodged with Mrs Frederick Johnson and her family in Toronto for 20 years where he was known as Uncle Joe. He had a stroke in 1964 and died on 28 June 1966. He was buried in the War Veterans Plot, Pine Hill Cemetery, Toronto.

Regimental Details | Soldiers