The Thomas Brothers of Cemaes
Captain Owen Vincent Thomas was one of three brothers, surviving sons of Brigadier General Sir Owen Thomas MP, who served in the First World War. After the other two brothers were killed, a note was appended to his Record of Service stating that he was ‘not to be sent overseas in any circumstances’.
The family were landed gentry in North Wales. His father, Owen Thomas, was a farmer, councillor, alderman, businessman and (later) MP on the island of Anglesey, and had been heavily involved in the Militia and Volunteer movement in the 1880s and 1890s. He had joined the Essex Regiment on the outbreak of the Boer War and served in South Africa from 1899 to late 1900, when he returned to Wales to raise and lead the Prince of Wale’s Light Horse in service with the Imperial Yeomanry. When he returned to South Africa, he took his sons with him, and so Robert Thomas (also later RFC/RAF) first saw action as a bugler, at the age of 12 while Owen was with him aged just 8 years old. On the outbreak of the First World War, Owen Thomas again volunteered to help, and this time became a Brigadier General, in charge of recruiting and training the Welsh Army Corps, which was later renamed 43rd (Welsh) Division, a position he held throughout the war and for which he was knighted in 1917. Again, he literally enlisted the help of his sons. One of his sons had died aged 16, but the three surviving ones all joined their father, and all three were commissioned into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (RWF).
The youngest of the three Thomas brothers, Trevor, had been killed in France in January 1916.
Robert Thomas (pictured left below) served in France as a Captain in the 15th RWF for eleven months, receiving the Croix de Guerre. He transferred to the RFC in 1915, and learned to fly at the Military School, Birmingham, where he passed his RAeC test on a Maurice Farman on 11 May 1916. He later served with Nos. 34 and 12 Squadrons, but returned to the UK until the summer of 1917, as his obituary in Flight magazine on 2 August 1917 records that “he left England only a few weeks ago”. In Egypt, he joined No. 14 Squadron at Deir el Belah, near Khan Yunis on the border with Palestine just south of Gaza. He was flying an artillery spotting sortie from there when he was shot down. Captain Robert Newton Thomas and 2nd Lieutenant John Wesley Howells were killed on 23 July 1917, when their BE2e (A1803) was hit by flak over the south-west corner of Gaza, and crashed into the sea. They are commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial, and also on a small memorial in Beersheba War Cemetery.
Captain Thomas had trained at Farnborough and had received his license on 30 January 1916. He had served in France with No. 32 Squadron before returning to the UK in June 1917. After the death of both of his brothers, his father pulled strings to ensure that his last remaining son would not be sent back overseas. He remained in the UK with No. 39 (HD) Squadron, reaching the rank of Captain and Flight Commander. On 29 July 1918, Owen Thomas was piloting Bristol F2B B1331 on a night flight near Epping when a parachute flare became stuck on the drop tube and igniting the fuselage. The aircraft dived rapidly towards the ground, hit a hedge and crashed in flames. Both the pilot and his observer, 2nd Lieutenant A. F. Cairns were killed, and Thomas is now buried in St Alban Churchyard, Coopersale, Essex. Both of his brothers are also named on his grave.
All three Thomas brothers are commemorated on a special plaque on Llanfechell War Memorial, outside St Mechell’s Church, near Camaes on Anglesey, as well as on a plaque in St. Bridget's Church in Skenfrith in Monmouthshire. Their father went on to serve in Parliament and be a part of Lord Milner’s Mission to Egypt in 1919-20 to report on conditions there. He died in 1923, and was survived by his widow and a daughter.
The family were landed gentry in North Wales. His father, Owen Thomas, was a farmer, councillor, alderman, businessman and (later) MP on the island of Anglesey, and had been heavily involved in the Militia and Volunteer movement in the 1880s and 1890s. He had joined the Essex Regiment on the outbreak of the Boer War and served in South Africa from 1899 to late 1900, when he returned to Wales to raise and lead the Prince of Wale’s Light Horse in service with the Imperial Yeomanry. When he returned to South Africa, he took his sons with him, and so Robert Thomas (also later RFC/RAF) first saw action as a bugler, at the age of 12 while Owen was with him aged just 8 years old. On the outbreak of the First World War, Owen Thomas again volunteered to help, and this time became a Brigadier General, in charge of recruiting and training the Welsh Army Corps, which was later renamed 43rd (Welsh) Division, a position he held throughout the war and for which he was knighted in 1917. Again, he literally enlisted the help of his sons. One of his sons had died aged 16, but the three surviving ones all joined their father, and all three were commissioned into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (RWF).
The youngest of the three Thomas brothers, Trevor, had been killed in France in January 1916.
Robert Thomas (pictured left below) served in France as a Captain in the 15th RWF for eleven months, receiving the Croix de Guerre. He transferred to the RFC in 1915, and learned to fly at the Military School, Birmingham, where he passed his RAeC test on a Maurice Farman on 11 May 1916. He later served with Nos. 34 and 12 Squadrons, but returned to the UK until the summer of 1917, as his obituary in Flight magazine on 2 August 1917 records that “he left England only a few weeks ago”. In Egypt, he joined No. 14 Squadron at Deir el Belah, near Khan Yunis on the border with Palestine just south of Gaza. He was flying an artillery spotting sortie from there when he was shot down. Captain Robert Newton Thomas and 2nd Lieutenant John Wesley Howells were killed on 23 July 1917, when their BE2e (A1803) was hit by flak over the south-west corner of Gaza, and crashed into the sea. They are commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial, and also on a small memorial in Beersheba War Cemetery.
Captain Thomas had trained at Farnborough and had received his license on 30 January 1916. He had served in France with No. 32 Squadron before returning to the UK in June 1917. After the death of both of his brothers, his father pulled strings to ensure that his last remaining son would not be sent back overseas. He remained in the UK with No. 39 (HD) Squadron, reaching the rank of Captain and Flight Commander. On 29 July 1918, Owen Thomas was piloting Bristol F2B B1331 on a night flight near Epping when a parachute flare became stuck on the drop tube and igniting the fuselage. The aircraft dived rapidly towards the ground, hit a hedge and crashed in flames. Both the pilot and his observer, 2nd Lieutenant A. F. Cairns were killed, and Thomas is now buried in St Alban Churchyard, Coopersale, Essex. Both of his brothers are also named on his grave.
All three Thomas brothers are commemorated on a special plaque on Llanfechell War Memorial, outside St Mechell’s Church, near Camaes on Anglesey, as well as on a plaque in St. Bridget's Church in Skenfrith in Monmouthshire. Their father went on to serve in Parliament and be a part of Lord Milner’s Mission to Egypt in 1919-20 to report on conditions there. He died in 1923, and was survived by his widow and a daughter.
Images: Robert Thomas. Owen Thomas' grave in Coopersale Beersheba Memorial