Description:Thomas Alder was born 16th September 1888 in Portsmouth , Hampshire. He returned to England from Canada in 1914, at the start of WWI, enlisting in the RAMC. He was posted to Blackpool, Lancashire on 13th November 1914 where the main RAMC camp was set up. For the first winter the men were billeted in private houses in the area east of Egerton Road, North Shore. Each house lodged five to ten men at a cost of between two shillings and six pence and three shillings and four and a halfpence per man per day. It is believed that most of the training took place on the beach.
In the summer of 1915 the RAMC moved to Weeton Camp, returning in the winter to billets in Blackpool, south of Central Station. In 1916 Blackpool became the principal RAMC training centre. Thomas later became a sergeant and met his future wife Ruth Abraham. They married on 16th February 1918. After the war Thomas and his wife returned to Portsmouth. Thomas was awarded The British War Medal 1914-1918 and The Victory Medal 1914-1918.