Did a Tipperary man fire the first shot by the British army in WW1?
It's an accepted fact and has been publicised the world over that the 1st shot fired by the British army at the western front during WW1 came from the rifle of a Corporal E. Thomas of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards. It happened just outside the village of Casteau near Mons in Belgium on August 22nd, 1914. In fact there's a monument bearing his name close to the site which was erected in the late 1930's. Fair enough one might say but the interest of documentary maker Tom Hurley was sparked by claims in some Irish newspapers and books over the years that Corporal Thomas or to give him his full name Ernest Edward Thomas actually came from Nenagh, Co Tipperary. It's this assertion and the origin of it that is investigated in a forthcoming documentary to be aired on Tipp FM as Hurley journeys in search of the truth.
From the outset additional information on Thomas within the Irish newspapers and books that mention his origins was scant and it continued that way as he proved to be a highly elusive figure with many twists and turns encountered along the way. What was known for sure was that unlike thousands of others he survived the war and ended his days in England where he worked in a cinema up to his death in 1939. The first task was contacting those who had written about the Nenagh link but disappointingly either owing to the passage of time since their research or having accepted the research of others they were unable to pin-point with any confidence the original source. Journalist Kevin Myers however on reflection thought his likely to have been former Roscrea resident and Victoria Cross recipient Jack Moyney who told him during the course of an interview.
Historian Ger Dooley who studied Nenagh during the war years for his MA entitled Years of Crisis: Nenagh 1914 - 1921 looks for Thomas in the census and local newspapers in addition to relating figures for those in the town who enlisted to fight. It's also pointed out that just because Thomas joined a regiment with the word 'Irish' in its name doesn't necessarily mean that regiment itself or indeed its recruits came from this country.
Having gone in search of the illusive Thomas in Ireland, Hurley next journeys to Brighton where he is known to have settled after the war. It was common for some veterans of the conflict not return to Ireland owing to the political climate which didn't readily celebrate service for the British army. In fact Myers argues that "scores of ex-Tipperary soldiers were murdered by the IRA on suspicion of being informers or just merely because they were ex-servicemen." In Brighton Hurley manages to track down relatives of Thomas but they are unable to confirm or deny that he was born in Nenagh. He wasn't known to discuss his past and to complicate matters further was always known within family circles as Tom. One relative suggests that possibly his wife was Irish as she hastily borrowed money on one occasion to venture over without ever paying it back. A ray of hope appears when a rare magazine featuring an interview with Ernest Edward Thomas is unearthed by Dan Robertson form Brighton Museum and Art Gallery in which he is asked about his birthplace but here he also appears to side step the issue declaring that he "was born in the army".
With the magazine or oral sources unable to shed any definitive light on his birthplace Hurley goes down the route of official records pertaining to him with the assistance of a local historian and genealogist for Brighton. Here again discrepancies appeared in the information such as his place of birth omitted from his birth cert until eventually by the documentary's end we get a clearer picture of any links Thomas had to Nenagh and indeed Ireland. In addition to his army service, the circumstances behind his first shot, life in Brighton, family, cinema job and death are all revealed. Baptismal records, marriage records, eyewitness statements, legal documents together with reference to the monument in Belgium are also incorporated.
The revealing documentary entitled ‘In Search of Ernest Edward Thomas' by Tom Hurley is due to be aired on Tipp FM radio on Saturday next 18th of October at 6pm. It can be heard outside the county on www.tippfm.com or as a podcast.
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