Thomas was raised by his aunt and uncle, a police sergeant, after his mother died when he was very young. He became a joiner and enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a sapper in December 1914. He was killed in action on 22 February 1916, aged 19, having just returned to France after a period of leave to visit his family. He is buried at Bard Cottage cemetery on the outskirts of Ypres in Belgium. His father, who lived in Liverpool, had the words, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling” inscribed on his headstone.

Gillian Fowler