5th Battalion, Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment)
George Daniel Thomas was a Londoner, almost certainly someone who answered Lord Kitchener’s call for volunteers and who died only months into training.
He was born on 27 October 1888 in North London and was baptised on 4 April 1889. His parents were Daniel George Thomas (1861-1938) and his wife Hannah Elizabeth (née Palmer: 1857-1935) His father was employed by the Great Northern Railway, initially as a porter and latterly as a supervisor. The couple had six children, of whom four were living at the time of the 1911 Census: Albert George (age 24); George Daniel (22); Nellie Murray (18) and William Frederick (15). At that time George was employed as a carman (driver) for a greengrocer. The family lived at 54 Ashburton Grove, Highbury, north London. They had been living at the same address since prior to the 1901 Census.
At some point between the time of the 1911 Census and his death George married Constance Annie (maiden name unknown): it has not been possible to identify the date of their marriage. They appear to have had a son, Francis George, who was born and died in 1915.
Unfortunately, no Army Service or Pension Records have survived for George. It is almost certain that he volunteered for military service at the beginning of the war. The Register of Soldiers’ Effects (kept at the National Army Museum) notes that he was not due a gratuity when he died, due to insufficient service — normally, to qualify, he would have had to have been in the Army for six months.
His posting was to the 5th Battalion, Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire) Regiment, which had been formed at Devizes in August 1914. It became part of 40 Brigade, 13 Division and after spending time at Tidworth and Chisledon before going into billets at Cirencester in December 1914.
Whilst located in Cirencester Private George Daniel Thomas died on 10 January 1915, aged 26. A recently released Pension Record Card (PRC) stated that the cause of death was ‘septic pneumonia contracted on active service’. According to The North Wilts Herald of 15 January 1915 he died in Cirencester Red Cross Hospital and was interred in Cirencester (Chesterton) Cemetery, with full military honours, on 13 January. His grave is now marked by a standard CWGC headstone.
George’s widow, Constance, died in Islington, aged 32, on 18 November 1916.
The PRC notes that two of George’s brothers also died in the Great War. 4458 Private Arthur George was killed in action on the Somme on 17 September 1916, whilst serving with 1/2nd (City of London) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers: he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing. G/131 Lance Corporal William Frederick was killed in action, near Loos, on 17 October 1915 and is buried in Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe.
Researched by Graham Adams 7 May 2021