Pte 235259 John Thomas

• Age: 40
• From: Llandroyal, Cardigan
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 17th April 1918
• Commemorated at: Westourtre Brit Cem
  Panel Ref: K.12

His parents’ names and place of residence suggest that John is this man, born in 1878 in Llandroyal, Cardigan the only child of David and Anne Thomas, of Ornant, Penrhiwllan, Henllan, Cardiganshire.  

His parents were both born locally, in Cardiganshire, and farmed 50 acres in Llanfair Orllwyn, in the present day county of Ceredigion.  His parents spoke only Welsh, and John was raised with Welsh as his first language.

John enlisted in Brecon and was formerly 203652, Yorkshire Regiment before he was transferred to the 18th King’s Liverpool Regiment, and was serving in the 17^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 235259 when he was killed in action on the 17^th April 1918 aged 40 during the German Spring Offensive. 

He now rests at Westoutre British Cemetery, Belgium, where his headstone bears the epitaph:

“THY WILL BE DONE”

Westoutre British Cemetery was begun in October 1917. It was used until the following April and again in August-October 1918, and 50 graves were brought into it from the battlefields of the Ypres salient, from BIXSCHOTE GERMAN CEMETERY and KEMMEL FRENCH CEMETERY after the Armistice. French units used the cemetery in April-August 1918, but these graves were later removed. The cemetery now contains 175 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 52 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to five casualties known or believed to be buried among them. The four Second World War burials all date from May 1940 and the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk ahead of the German advance. There is also one French burial from this period. The cemetery was designed by W H Cowlishaw.