BORN – Oswestry
HOMEFRONT – Place / Occupation / St. Oswald’s
UNIT – 7 Bn Royal Welsh Fusiliers (Merioneth & Montgomeryshire Yeomanry Territorial)
RANK – Second Lieutenant
THEATRE – Died at Home / Middle East / First Battle of Gaza. 26-27 March 1917 7 Bn Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
DIED – DoW 10 October 1918 (Wounded 26 March 1917), Prince of Wales Military Hospital Marylebone. Aged 23
BURIED – Oswestry General Cemetery (CWGC)
BROTHER to Second Lieutenant Norman Thomas
Edward Geoffrey Thomas was born in 1895 in Oswestry. His father was William Hopkins Thomas and his mother was Alice. His father was the proprietor of WH Thomas & Sons – Contractor & Builder, Timber Merchant and Brick Manufacturer with premises on Salop Road. In 1891 they lived at 8 Salop Road but by 1901 had moved to Leeswood, at Croeswylan, Welshpool Road, Oswestry. His mother had 8 children of which 7 survived. Edward had two elder brothers, Harold and Second Lieutenant Norman Thomas as well as elder sisters Alice and Marie and younger sisters Hilda and Ellen. The children grew up with nursery nurses and a governess.
Edward enlisted as a Private in the Shropshire Yeomanry in August 1914. He must have been selected for officer training soon after enlisting and, in April 1915 he was commissioned in the 7 Bn Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He went out to Egypt in August 1915 and the next month joined up with the battalion which at that time was engaged on the Gallipoli peninsula, Dardanelles Theatre. At this time he was the battalion Adjutant. Following the evacuation from Sulva Bay, Gallipoli the battalion returned to Egypt. At first they were posted to defend the Suez Canal and later took part in the offensive to defeat the Ottoman forces in Palestine.
Edward was severely wounded on 26 March 1917 during the First Battle of Gaza. He was repatriated to UK and admitted to Prince of Wales Military Hospital Marylebone London for ‘officers only’. He died on 10 October 1918, over 18 months later, at Marylebone. His body was returned home. His funeral was at St Oswald’s Church, presided by the Rev Lutener. There were full military honours, his coffin draped with Union Jack and on a gun carriage with a Guard of Honour of men from 8 Bn King’s Liverpool (Liverpool Irish) based at Park Hall. He was interred in Oswestry General Cemetery in the family grave. His brother, Norman, is also remembered on the headstone. Edward and his brother are commemorated on the war memorial at St Oswald’s Church.
See History RWF Vol 2 page (161/480) Account by fellow officer Captain Edward W Walker, 1/7 Bn Royal Welsh Fusiliers. KIA 6 November 1917, Beersheba War Cemetery
Acknowledgements. Photos –
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