Thomas born in 1893 was the son of George Burden an Elastic Web Weaver and Susanna Allen who had married in 1877. Before moving to Knighton the family were living on Saffron Lane, they went on to have six children, sadly two died in their infancy, Mary who was born in 1880 died at the age of 5 in 1885 and Albert born in 1891 died in 1897 aged 6.
By 1901 they were living at 49 Shakespeare Street, the oldest son, William born in 1878 had married and was now living at no 2 Upper Brunswick Street with his own family. The three surviving children, George born in 1884, Frederick born in 1886 and Thomas were still living at home. In 1911 Thomas then aged 17 was working in the Shoe Hand Press Room, his brothers were also working as Shoe Hands.
On the 11th December 1917 the War Office Daily List stated that Thomas was wounded. The Bristish Army Service records show he had Empyema, which is usually a complication of pneumonia.
It was reported in the Leicester Daily Post on 25th January 1918 that Mr and Mrs George Burden had received information that their youngest son, Corporal Tom Burden aged 24, signaller in the Machine Gun Corps, died at Alexandria on 18th January of wounds received in action in Palestine on November 7th 1917. Before he joined the army he was employed at the Wheatsheaf Works, owned by the Co-operative Wholesale Society, the Wheatsheaf Works in Knighton Fields built in 1891, was the worlds largest shoe factory, it finally closed in 1985.
He is buried at Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt. His inscription reads ‘A Loved Son and Brother Sincerely Mourned’. The cemetery was begun in April 1916 and was in use until December 1919, it was extended for the Second World War burials and now has 1,700 WW1 and 1,305 WW2 burials.
