David Cuthbert Thomas, the son of Evan and Ethelinda Thomas, of Llanedy Rectory, Pontardulais Glam, was commissioned 2/Lt (20/5/15) to the Sp Res of Officers, then gazetted (8/1/16) 2/Lt to 3 RWF, then attached to 1st Bn, joining the battalion in France. Was wounded in the front line in the Morlancourt sector, on a night working party, in the enemy shelling and died of wounds shortly after, 18 Mar 1916 age 20. Buried Point 110 New Military Cemy, Fricourt, France.
David Thomas was a close friend of both Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves having served together in the 1st Battalion. His death had a deep impact on both young poets and all his fellow comrades in the Battalion. Graves wrote the poem 'Not Dead' in Thomas's memory and Thomas also appears in Graves' autobiography Good-Bye to All That, Sassoon's 'Sherston trilogy' of fictionalised autobiographies (as "Dick Tiltwood") and several other poems by both men.
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