Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of William Martin, a shoe trade finisher, born 1869 in Enderby, Leics., and his wife Minnie Martin (nee Butterworth, married in the 2nd quarter of 1890 in the Hinckley, Leics. district), born 1871 in Stoke Golding, Leics. Thomas was born on the 7th October 1896 in Hinckley, Leics., his siblings were, William, born 1892, Ethel, born 1894, Bert, born 1898 and Fred, born 1900, all his siblings were born in Hinckley, Leics., in March 1901 the family home was at 81, Derby Road, Hinckley, Leics. In April 1911 Thomas was no longer living in the family home at 85, Derby Road, Hinckley, Leics., residing there were his father, a hosiery trade trimmer, his mother and siblings William, a coal miner, Bert, a dairyman’s errand boy, Lewis, a schoolboy, born 1902, Lance, a schoolboy, born 1903, Edith, a schoolgirl, born 1907, Jane, a schoolgirl, born 1909 and Hilda, born 1910, the latter five siblings were all born in Hinckley, Leics. The background to the circumstances in which Thomas lost his life is as follows. Ella Trout (16th February 1896 – 16th June 1952) of Hallsands, Devon, helped rescue nine men from a sinking ship. Ella was one of four sisters; the others being Patience, Clara and Edith. When their fisherman father, William, became sick, Patience and then Ella gave up school and operated his boat, providing the family's only source of income. William died in 1910, when the two fishing girls were 14 and 15 years old. Their cottage and the village was destroyed in January 1917 in a storm as result of the dredging of the shingle beach, years before, which protected the village beside the beach of Hallsands. On 8th September 1917, Ella was out in a boat crab fishing with her 10-year old cousin, William Trout, when they saw the SS Newholm struck by a naval mine, one mile south of Start Point. They along with William Stone, another fisherman in the vicinity, rowed to the scene and helped rescue nine men. Ella and William Trout rescued one sailor, but with the tide and the wind against them, they were unable to row back to shore. They, in turn, were towed back to safety by William Stone. In recognition of her bravery, she received the Order of the British Empire. There are however two conflicting accounts of how SS. Newholm was sunk, and the second account was that on the 8th September 1917, SS. Newholm, a defensively armed merchant steamer was en route from Bilbao to Middlesborough with a cargo of iron ore when she was sunk by a torpedo fired by German submarine U.31, Captained by Kurt Siewert, approximately 1 nautical mile south of Start Point in the English Channel, she sank with the loss of 20 lives.