Tracing Your Roots To Gallipoli
Remembering some of the Bolton men who lost their lives in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915
Joseph Lomax
Bolton Journal and Guardian 28 May 1915 Mr. and Mrs. Lomax, 22, Almond-st., Astley Bridge, have been officially informed that their son, Lance-Corporal Joseph Lomax, was killed in action in the Dardanelles on May 11th*. Lomax, who was in his 30th year, should have finished his time in the Army in October last. When war broke out he was in India, where he had been for the last seven years. When 13 years of age Lomax joined the Lads’ Brigade belonging to St. Paul’s, Astley Bridge. Afterwards he became associated with the Volunteers, and later joined the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, and had been in the Army about nine years. Lomax, who was a first-class signaller and marksman, was well-known in the Astley Bridge district. Joseph was the son of John Edward Lomax b.1863, a gardener and sometime self-actor minder in a cotton mill, and Mary Ellen Lomax née Simeon b.1867. He first appeared on the 1891 Census living at 5 Lancaster Street, Bolton with his parents and sisters Mary Jane b.1889 and Elizabeth b.1890. On the 1901 Census Joseph and his family were living at 27 Coop Street, Bolton and had gained 4 more children: Ann b.1893, Mary Ellen b.1896, William Simeon b.1898 and Margaret b.1899. Joseph was working as a piecer in a cotton mill. Joseph enlisted in the Militia on 10 November 1903. His medical report then recorded him as being 5' 3" tall, 105 lbs with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He purchased his discharge (for £1) from the Army on 1 December 1903. He enlisted again in the 4th Bn King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment on 28 August 1905. By this time he had acquired a tattoo of an anchor, heart and cross on his left forearm. By 1911 Joseph was serving in the Army in India. The rest of the family were living at 22 Almond Street, Bolton and had been joined by two more children: Lilian b.1904 and John Edward b.1906. *Date of death given as 25 April on CWGC.
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