Died aged 23. 10 May 1894 – 11 July 1917.
Bombardier 11527, “C” Battery 74^th Brigade Royal Field Artillery.

Thomas was born on the 10^th May 1894 at Alcombe, Dunster. He was the son of Richard and Emma (nee Pope) Greenslade. Richard was a domestic coachman.

In the 1901 census we find Thomas, aged 6, living in Grove Place, Dunster with parents Richard (38, a cab proprietor) and Emma (34), siblings Charles (11), Nellie (10), Ethel (5), Florence (2) and Rosa (6 months). All the children were born in Alcombe. Living with the family was an employee of Thomas’s father, John Bryant (27 a cab driver).

Richard’s mother Emma died aged 38 of diabetes (7 months) and coma (2 days) on the 25^th November 1905 at Dunster Hospital. Her husband Richard, a cab proprietor of Alcombe, registered her death.

When the 1911 census was taken, Thomas was aged 17, and living at The Court, Alcombe, Dunster with father Richard (48, a hauler cab proprietor) and siblings Charles (21), Ethel (15, housekeeper), Florence (12) and Rosa (10) and May (7). Thomas and his elder brother Charles were both employed driving. All the children were born in Alcombe.

Thomas enlisted in Birmingham, Warwickshire, and joined “C” Battery 74th Brigade Royal Field Artillery as Bombardier 11527. The Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects records his unit as “5 C Res Brigade RFA”. 5th C Res Brigade was a training unit. Possibly he become ill and was then moved to a quieter posting in a reserve training unit?

Without knowing Thomas’s enlistment date, it is not possible to say which actions he would have been involved in. The 74^th Brigade Royal Field Artillery landed at Le Havre on the 29^th of August 1915 and joined the Guards Division. In 1915 they were in action in The Battle of Loos. On the 13^th of May 1916, 74 Brigade Ammunition Column merged with the other columns of the divisional artillery to form the Guards Divisional Ammunition Column. In 1916 they fought on The Somme in The Battle of Flers-Courcelette and The Battle of Morval, capturing Lesboeufs. In 1917 they were in action in the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, the Third Battle of Ypres and The Battle of Cambrai.

Thomas died aged 23 of stomacitis oris and general sepsis, and basal meningitis on 11 July 1917 at the Red Cross Hospital in Minehead. His death certificate gives his occupations as Bakers Van Driver and Bombardier, Royal Field Artillery. His death was registered by his father Richard. Thomas is buried in Dunster Old Cemetery Grave 131A.