Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Three: Lieutenant C. H. R. Thomas, South Lancashire Regiment, who was killed in action near Ypres on 16 June 1915
1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. C. H. R. Thomas. S. Lan. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. C. H. R. Thomas.) mounted as worn by the recipient’s mother, light contact marks, very fine

Pair: Second Lieutenant J. B. R. Thomas, Manchester Regiment, who was killed in action near Monchy on 19 April 1918
British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. J. B. R. Thomas.) mounted as worn by the recipient’s mother, light contact marks, very fine (5) £140-£180

Charles Humphrey Rittson Thomas was born in Penarth, Cardiff, on 16 October 1893, the son of George and Henrietta Thomas, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the South Lancashire Regiment. He served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front and was killed in action near Ypres on 16 June 1915- a letter written to his mother by a fellow officer states: ‘On the night of 16-17 June the whole Battalion went out digging. There had been an attack by the English early the same morning, and the enemy’s guns were still very busy even in the evening. Our road was blocked in front owing to the moving of a lot of wounded, and while we were held up on a little path alongside a hedge we had several shrapnel shells over us. To add to the horrors of the situation they had put some gas shells over too, and we were obliged to put on our gas helmets. While Humphrey was standing with his helmet on in the rear of our Company talking to the Captain of the Company behind, a shell came over and a piece of it caught him in the head. He was rendered unconscious, and it was evident from the first that he had no chance of recovery. Taken back on a stretcher to the dressing-station, he died there about an hour after he had been admitted, having never regained consciousness.’ He is buried in Ypres Town Cemetery Extension, Belgium.

John Baron Rittson Thomas, brother of the above, was born in Penarth, Cardiff, on 12 January 1898, the son of George and Henrietta Thomas, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Manchester Regiment. He served with the 4th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front, and was killed in action near Monchy on 19 April 1918, whilst attached to the 2nd Battalion He is buried in Quesnoy Farm Militay Cemetery, France.

A memorial window to both brothers is located in St. Augustine’s Church, Penarth.

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