Mike Royden & Tony Wainwright
James Alexander Thomas was a young Everton fan from Walton. Born in Liverpool on 6 June 1901, he was baptised in St. Mary’s Church on County Road, the family residence located just a few streets away in 5 Ismay Street, close to Goodison Park.
His father Charles died in September 1906, leaving his widow Annie with five children and another on the way. Five year old James and three of his siblings were promptly sent to live in the Cottage Homes Orphanage in Fazakerley. Meanwhile, his mother and three younger siblings were living at 70 Brock Street, Kirkdale. Consequently, when James eventually returned to the family home, he was fully aware of the hardships faced by his mother, and family say he signed up with his friends so that she would receive some money from him.
He enlisted on 26 October 1915 – aged only fourteen – with the 17th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private 32485. On arrival in France, he was immediately plunged into the carnage of the Battle of the Somme, which commenced on 1 July 1916. By the 30 July 1916 he was dead, killed in action aged just fifteen, and became the youngest of the Liverpool Pals to die in the First World War.
As part of Remembrance in 1917, Everton Football Club commissioned a short film about the life of this very young Blue. Tony Wainwright BEM, of Everton FC Heritage Society, features, retelling James Thomas’ tragic story. Tony, a noted expert on the Great War, is also the web administrator, researcher and compiler of the Liverpool Pals website.
James Alexander Thomas’ biography can be found on the Liverpool Pal’s website by clicking this link.