Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

France & Flanders covers all the dates and corresponding locations which are outside the official battle nomenclature dates on the Western Front. Therefore the actions in which these men died could be considered 'normal' trench duty - the daily attrition losses which were an everyday fact of duty on the Western Front.

Detail :

Aberdeen Press and Journal 15 December 1906 - "Royal Garrison Artillery- Lieutenant Harry Reid Thomas, from the Durham Royal Garrison Artillery (Militia), to be second lieutenant."

Broad Arrow 07 January 1916 - "Capt. Harry Reid Thomas R.G.A., who was killed in action the 25th ult. in France, was the eldest son of Mr. Thomas of Jamaica and Kew Gardens. he obtained his commission from the Militia in 1906, being promoted lieutenant in 1909 and captain in 1914.

[Alan Greveson Research submitted by G.A. Archambeau via Wartime Memories Project] "One of my five step-uncles, Harry Thomas, served as a Captain in the British Army. He served as the first Jamaican born officer in the British Army in WW1. These brothers were the sons of my grandfather; Jamaican Police Inspector Herbert Theodore Thomas, from his first marriage to Gertrude Thomas. Captain Harry Reid Thomas was born in Jamaica on the 15th of March 1883. He attended Jamaica College, and volunteered to fight in the Boer War with Baden Powell's African Constabulary as a trooper. For his service he was awarded the King's Medal with 5 clasps.

After the Boer War, he was shipped off to fight again in WW1 in France where he died on 25th Dec. 1915. He is buried in France, at Viell, Chapell, Lacouture. Grave-1.C.9. This brave solder has been forgotten by his country Jamaica, and should be remembered by the UK for his service. Harry is only one of the five Thomas brothers who served in the British Army of WW1. All of these brothers were officers, and only one of them survived WW1 to fight again in WW2. "

Masonic :

The 1921 Masonic Roll of Honour incorrectly shows Henry Thomas as a Lieutenant. He was a Captain when he died.

Perseverance Lodge of Hong Kong No. 1165EC had only one brother initiated into the lodge who fell in the Great War. The Lodge was warranted in 1867 and has remained in Hong Kong since that time. Captain Henry Reid Thomas is one of the brethren whose reason to return to Europe is clear. He was a professional soldier who, at the outbreak of war (then a Lieutenant) was serving with No. 2 Company, Hong Kong Battalion, Royal Garrison Artillery. The unit was part of a regular army formation providing heavy artillery coastal defense for Hong Kong and Singapore. The soldiers were recruited in India, the officers and senior NCOs were British. Brother Thomas was born on 15 March 1883, joined the regular army and was commissioned into the RGA in December 1906. Prior to coming to Hong Kong he had served in Malta and Singapore arriving here in June 1911. He was initiated into Perseverance on 16 September 1914, passed on 16 October and raised on the 23 October, a very unusual speed of progression but probably a result of news of his transfer to Europe before the end of the year. He was killed in action a year after his return on Christmas Day 1915 while serving with 34th Siege Battery RGA and lies in France in the military cemetery of Vieille - Chapelle at Lacouture. He made his will by a short written note in the battlefield, leaving his few possessions to his mother. Research by Paul Corser, Hong Kong

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley