Thomas Edward Marshall served in India, the North West Frontier and Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. Per the 1911 Army Census, he may have been from Watlington, Battle, Sussex, born circa 1889. Although his enlistment date is not recorded, he is likely to have been a career soldier, enlisting some time in the latter half of 1910. In August 1914 the battalion was in Peshawar, India as part of the 1st (Peshawar) Brigade, 1st (Peshawar) Division, Indian Army. The battalion remained in India throughout the war. The regimental history comments:
“In the early months of the Great War practically all the British troops in India were withdrawn for service in Europe and elsewhere, their place being taken by Territorials. The only Regular troops retained in India were a Brigade for service on the North-West Frontier, as it was considered inadvisable to trust such a responsible position to young troops fresh from home, with no Indian experience. This explains why the 1st Battalion, undoubtedly as fine a battalion as any serving in India, was not sent to Europe to take part in the Great War.”
Notwithstanding this, Pte Marshall entered the Asiatic theatre of War at Hafiz with his battalion on 17 August 1915, and was therefore entitled to the 1914-15 Star. This theatre covered operations “Near Hafiz Kor, within the area bounded on the south by the left bank of the Kabul river, and on the east by a line from Adozai to Tangi, both places included, under the command of Major-General C. F. G. Young, from 14th to 19th April, 1915, and under the command of Major-General F. Campbell, C.B., D.S.O., between 29th August, 1915 and 10th October, 1915, all dates inclusive.”
The campaign is described in the ‘Short History of the Royal Sussex Regiment 1701-1926’, as follows: “1915. On August 17th the Battalion mobilised for service on the North-West Frontier and proceeded to Rustam for operations on the Buner Border. The Battalion took part in three minor engagements on August 21st, 26th and 31st, which effectually subdued the Bunerwals. Though the opposition offered by the tribesmen was not great, the operations are worthy of note, for they were carried out during the heat of an Indian summer, and it is seldom in these days that British troops are called upon to fight under such trying conditions.
Meanwhile, the Mohmands had risen, and the 3rd Brigade were ordered to move as quickly as possible to Adezai in support of the 1st and 4th Brigades, operating on that border. Arriving on September 23rd, the Brigade remained inactive until October 8th, when it took part in the second action near Hafiz Kor. The Battalion was for a time under heavy fire and had a few casualties, but the Mohmands dispersed, not having offered the resistance which was expected. The Battalion returned to Peshawar on October 29th.”
The battalion, or detachments of it, were involved in providing a flying column into Mohmand country in September 1916 and manning part of a line of barbed and live wire, interspersed with blockhouses, in 1917. 1919 saw the battalion initially engaged in riot control duties in Poona and Bombay, and then sent to Peshawar in the context of a developing conflict with Afghanistan. Actions included taking a ridge on the Orange River which overlooked the Ali Musjid-Jamrud Road, reconnaissance and sorties in extreme heat, and defence of posts, members of the battalion winning five gallantry medals in the process. Following the signing of peace with Afghanistan in August 1919, and some operations against tribesmen in the Khaibar in September, the battalion, reduced to a cadre, returned home in December 1919. Subsequently it was embodied within the Army of the Rhine.
For Pte Marshall’s service on the North West Frontier and in Afghanistan he earned the India General Service Medal with the clasp ‘Afghanistan North West Frontier 1919’. By this time he had been given the new service number 6390437. He would have received his 1914-15 Star some time after December 1919, his British War Medal and Victory Medal some time after November 1920, and his IGSM some time after August 1921.
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