LEIGH'S DADS' ARMY - THE HOME GUARD

 

Jack Thomas was one of 3 sons born to Polly Thomas (nee Chapman Dench), who was the    daughter of Elizabeth Emma Cotgrove and Edmund Dench.  Polly (Mary Ann) was born in Leigh in 1876 and the family can be traced back to Benjamin Cotgrove who was baptized on 3 April 1691 in St Clement's Church.

 

 

In 1940  Jack Thomas lived with his wife and baby in Grange Road. Jack was a boat builder by trade and worked at the Johnson and Jago boatyard close to Leigh Station. Being a boatbuilder was a reserved occupation so he wasn’t called up for military service. At the time Johnson and Jago were building Fairmile Motor Launches for the Royal Navy.

 

Jack joined the Home Guard, the Dads' Army, and was made a corporal. They did all their parades and drills in Leigh, and Jack's son remembers him telling him they didn’t have rifles at the start, but eventually they were issued with obsolete Canadian Ross rifles from the First World War.

 

Jack's son is searching for a photograph of his father in uniform and of the Home Guard from Leigh.

 

Does anyone have anything that could help in the search?  Was your dad in the Leigh Home Guard?