Soldier Record

Before World War One Thomas was a carpenter by trade. He enlisted with the 5th Royal Berkshire Regiment on 31st August 1914 and served in France. According to the war diaries of his regiment for the year 1915 trench warfare was miserable with costs in deaths and casualties being very heavy losing in total 6,688 men during the war. Thomas acquired TB whilst in the trenches and was demobbed sometime in 1915 and went back home to live with his family in Caversham. For a while he lived in a TB shelter in their garden but was eventually allowed back in doors where he died on 30th December 1917 aged 42. He is buried in Caversham cemetery and his name is on the war memorial on Caversham Bridge.