Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Captain C. A. Thomas, 16th (Service) Battalion (Church Lads’ Battalion) King’s Royal Rifle Corps, killed in action, 23 August 1916

1914-15 Star (Capt., K.R. Rif. C.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt.); Memorial Plaque (Charles Alexander Thomas) extremely fine (4)
£450-550

Captain Charles Alexander Thomas, 16th (Service) Battalion (Church Lads’ Battalion) King’s Royal Rifle Corps, entered the France/Flanders theatre of war on 17 November 1915. He was killed in action in France on 23 August 1916, aged 33 years. He was the son of William Jonathan Thomas and Elizabeth Sartorious Thomas, of Bristol; and husband of Jane Soames Thomas, of 5 Victoria Square, Clifton, Bristol.

With Discharge Certificate of an Enrolled Volunteer, 1903; Church Lads’ Brigade Officer’s Commission document appointing Thomas a Major in the Brigade, 24 November 1911; Church Lads’ Brigade Commission appointing Thomas an Officer in the 1st Bristol Cadet Battalion, 4 June 1912; named memorial scroll; slip to accompany the plaque; a copy of The Brigade, December 1916, with obituary of Captain Thomas; letters re. the grave of Captain Thomas; a hand drawn map showing the location of Thomas’s grave; photographs of Thomas’s original grave marker; copied photograph of the recipient in uniform; and copied research.

Just over a week previous to his death in action, Captain Thomas had written a touching letter of condolence to the parents of a fellow officer of the battalion - 2nd Lieutenant E. H. Grant - see lot 1435.