Private Thomas Henry Warnock
Number: 9532/ 9532
Company: 54th (Belfast) Company, 13th Battalion, First Contingent/ 46th (Belfast) Company (New), 12th Battalion, Second Contingent
ENLISTMENT
Date: 22 January 1900
Place: Belfast
Age: 20 years 6 months (born 4 June 1880 at Kilgamish, Tartaraghan, County Armagh)
Trade or calling: Clerk
Place of birth: In the Parish of Drumcree, in or near the Town of Portadown, in the County of Armagh
Address: Grosvenor Street, Belfast
Family: Single. Father Samuel Warnock, hemstitch factory manager, mother Margaret Warnock (nee Richardson), of Drumgoose Cottage, Portadown.
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 5' 9 1/2". Complexion fresh/ dark, eyes blue, hair brown/ light.
Religion: Presbyterian
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 3 March 1900
Date home: 11 January 1902
Service medal, clasps and other awards: Queen's South Africa Medal. Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, 1901 clasps.
DISCHARGE
Date: 14 January 1902
Place: Gosport
Reason for discharge: The termination of his engagement
Intended place of residence: Drumgoose Cottage, Portadown
Conduct: Good
Special qualifications: Clerk
Warnock was among the 400 men captured by Boer forces at Lindley in May 1900. While held in a camp at Nooitgedacht, on 12 July he wrote a letter to his family, which was published in the Belfast Evening Telegraph on 25 August 1900:
Just a line to let you know I am still living, though at one time I expected all was over. You will have seen the account of the fight by this [time]. I got hit in the thigh, and put my hand down to try and bandage it with my field dressing, when I was hit again on the left breast; so you see I had a narrow escape. It was pitiable to see fine young chaps who went out in the morning, hearty and well carried in at night by stretcher bearers dead. I was hit on the second day of the fight, and had three more days' fighting to do, as my wounds were very slight. I think we were defeated, but not disgraced, considering we held out for five days without rations. On the third day we got a sheep served out for one hundred men, so you can reckon how much each man got, and lying night and day grasping our rifles, and fighting hard from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day of the siege. We were clean done up. But we are proud to say the white flag was not hoisted by any Irishman, as the captain of the Irish died fighting, having been hit in three places. We still hope to see all at home once more.
He was released on 30 August with the other members of the 13th Battalion when the British captured Nooitgedacht.
While in South Africa he transferred to the 46th (Belfast) Company (New), on their arrival as part of the Second Contingent of Imperial Yeomanry.
On 27 November 1906 Warnock married Elizabeth Moore in the Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church, Bangor. His occupation at the time was given as factory manager. Soon after they emigrated to the United States.
The County Down Spectator, 23 November 1906
Image of Warnock from the Belfast Evening Telegraph, 21 April 1900. It is captioned 'J. H. Warnock'. Although the image may, therefore be of John Warnock (9555), 54th (Belfast) Company, it is more probable that the 'J. H.' was a mistranscription of 'T. H.' I have found no record for John Warnock giving him any second name.
This page last updated 15 January 2025.