The mystery surrounding an American Civil War soldier buried at Windhill Cemetery has at last been solved.

After a six-week appeal for information, an anonymous Telegraph & Argus reader has traced Thomas Hill's history from his birth in 1841 to his exploits during the Civil War and beyond.

Mr Hill's grave was discovered by 72-year-old Ken Garbutt, who set out on a one-man mission to clean the graves of "forgotten" servicemen buried at the cemetery in time for Remembrance Day yesterday.

Joined by wild-west enthusiast and hobbyist historian Allen Ambridge, of Bingley, several appeals for help were published in the T&A for information about the mysterious soldier, and Mr Garbutt is delighted with the response.

He said: "The letter was signed by an anonymous well-wisher.

"It gives a detailed list of Thomas Hill and his relatives, a lot of which has been gained from census records, and there's a newspaper cutting reporting his death.

"There's a lot of very interesting information here and it gives quite a strong picture of who Thomas Hill was."

Using census records and excerpts from the Shipley Times of 1907, the information shows that Mr Hill was born in Idle in 1835, the illegitimate son of Hannah Hill. Baptised at Bradford's St Peter's church, by the time of the 1851 cenus, he was working in a mill as a weaver.

When he was 25, he volunteered to fight in the American Civil War, where he fought under the command of Abraham Lincoln. He was later honoured with two medals for his efforts during the conflict.

After the war, he returned to England, where he found employment as a signalman on the Great Northern Railway's Shipley to Bradford Line. After 30 years he retired on a service award of £15.

He was married and had three children - who according to the Shipley Times were called Arthur E, Miss H and T Stanley. He died in May 1907, aged 71.

"I'll be passing the information on to Mr Ambridge who can then send it on to America and hopefully later arrange for a commemorative headstone to be shipped over for the grave in Windhill," added Mr Garbutt.

Soldier Hill

Thomas Hill was born in Idle on August 28, 1835, the illegitimate son of Hannah Hill, who was a minor at the time of his birth.

In 1841, he was living with his mother and maternal grandmother, Sarah, at Wrose, along with two lodgers, one of whom, John Firth, had married Sarah by the census of 1851.

At the age of 25, Thomas volunteered to fight in the American Civil War between 1861 and 1863.

By the time of the 1871 census, Sarah Hill had died, and Hannah was living with her stepfather John Firth. By this time she was married to a man called Barker and had acquired his two children as her stepsons.

By 1881, Thomas was married and also living with his mother. He had found work as a signalman on the Great Northern Railway.

During his later years, he received a pension of $36 a month from the US Government.

When he died in May 1907 - leaving three children - the flag at Windhill Liberal Club flew at half-mast as a sign of respect.

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