210834 Cpt. Harry Reid Thomas British Army 34th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery from:Jamaica B.W.I. (d.25th Dec, 1915) My step-uncle, Harry R.Thomas, was the first son of my grandfather, Jamaican Police Inspector Herbert Theodore Thomas, from his first marriage to Gertrude Thomas. Harry R. Thomas was born in Jamaica on 15th March,1883. He attended Jamaica College in Kingston, and he first volunteered to fight in the Boer War with Baden Powell's African Constabulary as a Trooper. For his service he was awarded the King's Medal with 5 clasps. After the Boer War, he was shipped of to fight again in WW1 as a Captain in France with the Royal Garrison Artillery, and is buried in France, at Vielle, Chapelle, Lacouture. Grave-1.C, 9.
The sad thing about Harry's story is that this officer who gave his life for his country Jamaica, and the UK His memory has been erased in Jamaica, and if I had not done research for my autobiography "A Struggle to Walk with Dignity" 2008, he would never be remembered today as so many other soldiers have been forgotten in the past. My sincere thanks to your organization for this project. I will pass on info about Harry's three other brothers who also died as Officers in WW1.
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