Novelist and poet. Born Philip Edward Thomas in Lambeth. He worked as a journalist and book-reviewer, and wrote a novel 'The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans'. He is referred to as a war poet, although little of his work is concerned with warfare. He enlisted in the Artists Rifles in July 1915 and was posted to France, where he was killed in the Battle of Arras.
His Wikipedia page gives much information about the life of this man as does the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
He enlisted as a Private on 19 July 1915 in the 28th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Artists' Rifles), service number 4229 and after having been promoted to Corporal he was, in November 1916, commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He entered France on 30 January 1917 and was serving in the regiment's No.244 Siege Battery when he was killed in action, aged 39 years, on 9 April 1917. His body was buried in Row C, Grave 43 in the Agny Military Cemetery, Rue des Maraîchers, 62217 Agny, France.
Probate records confirm his address had been High Beech, Loughton, Essex and that when probate was granted to his widow on 17 May 1917 his effects totalled £983-15s-2d. By 25 September 1917 his widow had been sent his army effects that totalled £48-6s-9d. She was also sent his £7-10s-0d war gratuity on 5 December 1919. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal that were sent to his widow at Forge House, Otford, Sevenoaks, Kent.
He is shown as 'EDWARD THOMAS' on the London County Council blue plaque at 61 Shelgate Road, London, SW11, as 'EDWARD THOMAS LIEUT' on a plaque within All Saints Church, Church Road, Steep, Hampshire, GU32 2DE and as 'Thomas Edward Lieut. R.G.A' on the Steep Shrine in Mill Lane at the junction with Church Road, Steep, Hampshire. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website, on the A Street Near You website and on the Royal British Legion's Every One Remembered website.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk and Andrew Behan.
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