b. 26/11/1883 Newstead, Nottinghamshire. d. 02/07/1951 Bulwell, Nottingham.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 11/08/1919 Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.
Thomas was born on 26th November 1883, the third child of nine (8 boys and 1 girl) born to Thomas and Frances Elliott (nee Orme). For the first part of his childhood the family lived in Newstead, Nottinghamshire, before moving to Basford in c.1895. He became a coal miner from an early age, and by 1911, had been promoted to a Deputy, and was boarding with a family in Mansfield. In 1915, he married Frances Ellen Jackson in Basford, Nottinghamshire and they had one child. By 1919, Thomas was now a Colliery Manager at Hucknall Colliery where he performed the act of gallantry which led to the award of the Edward Medal. Thomas moved to Bulwell in later life and died on 2nd July 1951, aged 67, and was cremated two days later at Wilford Hill Crematorium in Nottingham.
EM CITATION:
On August 11th, 1919 a miner named Onley at the Hucknall Colliery was entombed between the face at which he was working and the debris of a large fall of stones and rubbish from the roof. There were several men at hand, who proceeded to remove a certain amount of the fall until a small gap was made between the fallen rubbish and the edge of the roof. These men had become exhausted wihen Elliott, the manager, reached tihe scene, and lie, without Waiting to consider the danger, squeezed through, reached the wrists of the imprisoned man and succeeded in pulling him out. Elliott’s act was a courageous, prompt and plucky one; he did not stop to estimate the danger of a further fall, and certainly saved Onley’s life, as the roof gave way further immediately after the rescue, and it would then have been impossible to get through.
BURIAL LOCATION: WILFORD HILL CREMATORIUM, NOTTINGHAM (ASHES SCATTERED).
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
