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The following is just a synopsis. The site author can be contacted for more detailed information.
Thomas Richard Bone was the first child of Thomas Henry Bone (THB) and Annie (1) Woodhurst. His birth certificate [Birth Index: Hackney 1b 556, 1895 (June)] states that he was born at his parents' address - 89, Glyn Road, Lower Clapton - on May 5th 1895. The informant was his father, then occupied as an engine fitter. It is probable that his first forename was taken from that of his father, and his second forename from that of his mother's father Richard William (1) Woodhurst.
He was baptised at Hackney St. John on June 2nd 1895. His family address was given in the register as 58 Roding Road and his father's occupation as fitter. The Roding Road house may actually have belonged to Annie (1)'s brother William (2) Woodhurst.
The 1901 Census finds him living with his parents at 183, Dartmouth Park Hill, Tufnell Park in Kentish Town.
The 1911 Census finds him living with parents at 173, Fortress Road in Kentish Town and occupied as a railway gas fitter.
His sister Maud Ethel Bone (MEB) professed to having had a special affection for her brother "Tommy", often becoming tearful when recollecting him. She said that he was very clever in general, and at drawing and other forms of artwork in particular - even as a young boy he could draw detailed maps from memory. She remembered him especially, however, for his musical talents, recalling childhood scenes at the family home when Tommy would set her standing on a stool to sing in accompaniment to his playing of the violin. But as well as the violin he could also play both organ and piano. She said he could play almost anything on the piano, although that accolade should perhaps be taken with caution. She said that he became musical as a result of learning to play the violin at school. He came home from school one day and announced that he could play on the piano The Bluebells of Scotland. His father THB and his grandfather William James Bone (who was then living with them) said that if he could prove this claim to them then they would get him a piano. Somehow he did prove it, and consequently THB bought him a fine Westinghouse piano, complete with its own candlesticks.
MEB's most interesting anecdote about Tommy concerns an occasion when he is supposed to have "played before the Czar of Russia" on the violin in his school's concert (in London), dressed in silk clothes with satin shoes. It was unclear as to whether she personally witnessed this performance, but she thought he would have been about six years old at the time (so she would have been only about four, in around 1901). By way of commemorating this event, he and the other children were each given a "Russian sovereign", which she remembered him possessing during their childhood. Certainly, the Czar Nicholas II visited this country a number of times as a guest of King Edward VII, for instance in 1903 and in August 1909, and doubtless attended various civic, charity and cultural events in London. It is possible that the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle hold details of the Czar's itineraries and so perhaps could shed some light on this alleged episode, which probably occurred during the 1903 visit when Tommy was actually aged about 8.
A little further knowledge about Tommy's life was obtained from his niece Hazel Edith Smith (nee Bone), who said that Tommy worked at a "picture-house" playing the piano or organ accompaniment to silent films. Presumably this would have been somewhere in London, and it should not be impossible to confirm it from old picture-house archive material. However, MEB said that most of his musical engagements were at concerts put on at hotels and other such venues, often with companies' orchestras; she mentioned that he played, for instance, at concerts staged at the Woolwich Arsenal. Apparently his mother Annie (1) sold his piano, perhaps when he was abroad during the First World War, most probably (according to Hazel Edith) to provide her with "drink money".
Tommy evidently joined the Navy in 1911, spending the period September 2nd to November 10th at the onshore training facility HMS Ganges at Shotley, Suffolk; his rating class there was "Boy II"; he seems next to have signed up in the Navy for a service period of 12 years, commencing on May 5th 1913; all these details appear in the naval record [National Archives: ADM 188/675/Image 62] which gives his height as just 5 feet 2 inches, his chest as 33 inches and his hair and eye colours as brown; his birthplace is given as Hackney, with his correct birthdate, and his occupation is entered as gas fitter's mate.
Hazel Edith said that he subsequently "deserted" from the Navy, and MEB said that this was because he "couldn't endure the food" - although this seems improbable as a sufficient reason. Hazel Edith was able to provide the only known photograph of Tommy, in which he is wearing Naval uniform and is standing in what seems to be an assembly of many other sailors, possibly at HMS Ganges. There was no inscription upon the reverse of this photograph, but MEB was able to confirm its identity at once.
On December 11th 1915, just seven weeks after the death of his father, TRB enlisted in the Army and was initially assigned to the 102nd battalion of the Territorial Reserve. His service thereafter is currently unknown, but he was discharged from the Army on January 27th 1917 owing to sickness [National Archives: WO 372/2/206581]. Upon discharge he may have gone to live in Leicester, where his mother Annie (1) was now living.
It was in Leicester that Tommy married in 1917 to Honor Darby. The marriage certificate [Marriage Index: Leicester 7a 567, 1917 (Dec)] states that they were married by Licence at Leicester Register Office on December 15th 1917. He is described as a bachelor aged 22, occupied as a silk dyer and residing at 16, Bakehouse Lane in Leicester, and she as a spinster aged 26, occupied as a cycle tyre maker and residing at 32, Oxford Street in Leicester. His father is described as a deceased railway time keeper and hers as a deceased brewer's drayman. The witnesses were George Harrison and Lilian Tomblin, whose connections are unknown. It may be that 16, Bakehouse Lane was where Annie (1) and her sons had first set up home in Leicester. When her son Harold Edward (1) married in 1926 he gave his address as 14, Bakehouse Lane.
Honor's parents were Richard William Darby and Charlotte Higham who, according to their marriage certificate [Marriage Index: Towcester 3b 25, 1887 (Sept)], married on July 4th 1887 at Easton Neston Parish Church in the District of Towcester and Brackley, Northamptonshire [relative's report]. Their fathers were named as Richard Darby and Thomas Higham, both labourers. Honor was born at Loughborough in Leicestershire in 1890 [Birth Index: Loughbro' 7a 148, 1890 (June)]. The 1891 Census finds her living with her parents at 121, Paget Street in Loughborough where her father was employed as a railway drayman. The 1901 Census finds her at age 10 as a visitor in the household of a labourer George Gravitt with wife Louise, possibly her aunt. Her parents and siblings Gladys, John Thomas, Ruth and Eva were meanwhile living nearby at 39, Station Street in Loughborough where her father was now occupied as a brewer's wagoner.
According to Hazel Edith, the marriage of Tommy and Honor "didn't work out" and eventually they "parted". It is believed that they produced the two children Kathleen and Frank listed below. MEB said that she did not know of the marriage being an unhappy one, but claimed that their only son (presumably Frank) died when quite young, and that Honor had another child conceived "quite possibly by a man other than Tommy". MEB did not even know the names of Tommy's children. A descendant of Honor's sister Ruth reports that Honor was reputed to have produced two illegitimate daughters named May and Ida.
Almost nothing is known of Tommy's subsequent life up until his death in 1933. MEB said that he had many jobs in his later life, including one on the London Underground. She also said that the Great War had destroyed his nerves through shell-shock. Her story used to be that he was killed by a falling tree during a storm when he was out in the grounds of a nursing home where he was supposedly being treated for shell-shock, which carries the implication that he was still seriously affected by the experience of the Great War fifteen years after it had ended. She said that he continued to play the organ while there. Later on, she slightly varied the story by saying that he actually "died of meningitis" after being hit by a tree at a time when workmen were felling trees in the grounds without having issued any adequate warning. Hazel Edith, on the other hand, related that Tommy's death was caused by a long-standing tumour of the brain, some of which - but not all - had been removed by an operation performed "when he was a youngster". She also said that when her father Harold Edward (1) went to visit his brother Tommy in the nursing home he was shocked to find him "in a terrible mess, eating off the floor like an animal". Whatever mixture of these claims constitutes the actual truth, it seems certain that the War wrecked Tommy's life.
Tommy died at the Napsbury Hospital in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, which was probably the "nursing home" referred to by Hazel Edith and MEB. His death certificate [Death Index: St. Albans 3a 1045, 1933 (Dec)] states that he died aged 38 on December 16th 1933. The cause of death, as determined by post mortem, was certified as 'acute suppurative leptomingitis'. This last word is a misspelling of leptomeningitis, an inflammation of the inner covering membranes (the arachnoid mata and pia mata) of the brain or spinal cord. Tommy's occupation is cited as ex-soldier and dyer's labourer. It is not known whether any of Tommy's family went to the hospital upon being notified of his death, nor where he was interred. The certificate gives his home address as 32, Oxford Street, Leicester, the home in which Honor had been living when they married.
Nothing more is known of Tommy's life. His photograph bears a faint smile combining wryness and shrewdness, tinged with a hint of suffering. His life story is perhaps the saddest of the six children of THB.
In 1941 Honor remarried to Thomas Holohan [Marriage Index: Leicester 7a 855, 1941 (Dec) – misindexed as "Holshan"]. She died in 1978 [Death Index: Leicester C. 6 2096, 1978 (Dec) – DOB 29Ap1887]. The latter record gives her date of birth as April 29th 1887, evidently three years too early.
Kathleen died in infancy [Death Index: Leicester 7a 308, 1920 (June)].
Frank was born on October 10th 1920. The 1939 Register of England and Wales finds him unmarried and living at 74, Lexton Street in Leicester, occupied as a butcher's assistant. He died in 1974 [Death Index: Leicester C. 6 2171, 1974 (Dec)].