Thomas Briscoe Dobson was born in Moore on 27 May 1893. His parents were John and Priscilla. John was a platelayer on the railway and the family lived in a railway cottage on Moore Lane, but it is no longer there. Sadly, John died the year after Thomas was born.
Priscilla continued to live in the cottage until at least the outbreak of war. Thomas had three brothers and one sister – John James b1877 (also a plate layer), William b1880 (a steam crane driver), Alice b1887 and George b1892. After the death of her husband, Priscilla earned money by being a charwoman.
In 1911, Thomas and his sister were still living at home. He was an apprentice house painter.
Thomas joined the Loyal North Lancashire Pioneers, service number 265861, but there are no further records of his military service.
Thomas returned to Moore after the war, but it seems he never married. In 1939 he was living in a cottage on Moss Lane with his sister, Alice, and John JB Dobson, born in 1918, but we don’t know what the relationship was. Thomas had returned to his job as a ‘house painter and wallpaper hanger’ and was also a part time school caretaker.
He died in 1970, aged 77 years.