Three: Second Lieutenant Sidney Thomas, 11th (Cambridge City) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, killed in action on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme

1914-15 Star (3982 Pte. S. Thomas. H.A.C.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. S. Thomas.) mounted for display, together with Bronze Memorial Plaque (Sydney Thomas) this neatly pierced at 6 o’clock and 12 o’clock, with transmission slip and card envelope, extremely fine (4) £1400-1800

Sydney Thomas, a native of Cardiff, was employed as a bank clerk with the London Provincial Bank in Caerphilly. He enlisted on 5 July 1915 as a private in the Honourable Artillery Company in which his elder brother was also serving. He was reported as a fine athlete and the best shot in the battalion. On 10 October 1915, he embarked at Southampton and joined his unit in France some days later.

On 7 May 1916, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and posted to the 11th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, which he joined on the 10th. He was killed in action on 1 July 1916; his body was not recovered and he is commemorated by name on the Thiepval Memorial. He was 23.

The Battalion War Diary for 1 July 1916 reads: ‘7:28 a.m. The mine opposite left of 101st Brigade was exploded. 7:30 a.m. The infantry assault was launched. The Bn. followed the 10th Lincolns from our assembly trenches down into Sausage Valley and across to the German lines. Owing to the failure of the 102nd Brigade on the left to capture La Boiselle, our advance from the moment it left our assembly trenches was subjected to a very heavy fire from machine guns from La Boiselle. In spite of the fact that wave after wave were mown down by machine gun fire, all pushed on without hesitation, though very few reached the German lines.’ A photograph of Second Lieutenant Thomas appears in the Cardiff Times of 8 July 1916.

Sold with an original letter from the War Office Accounts Department, dated 4 October 1916, detailing the monies due to his estate after his death, showing a total of forty nine pounds one shilling and eleven pence, this amount including a deduction of eleven pounds and five shillings for pay over-issued 2-31 July 1916. Together with copied service papers, Battalion War Diary, and obituary page from the Cardiff Times.