Thomas Priday

Corporal Thomas William Priday (1912/1913– 9 December 1939) was the first British Army soldier to be killed in action during the Second World War.^[1]

Thomas William Priday
Born	1912/1913 Redmarley, Gloucestershire, England
Died	9 December 1939 (aged 26–27) near Metz, France
Buried	Luttange Communal Cemetery, France 49°16'19.3"N 6°18'53.0"E
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Rank	Corporal
Service number	4031789
Unit	King's Shropshire Light Infantry
Battles / wars	World War II Phoney War  †

Early life

The son of Allen L. Priday and Elisabeth A. Priday of The Gravel Pits,^[2] Redmarley in Gloucestershire. His baptism is recorded as having taken place on 1 June 1913 in Redmarley.^[3] Priday travelled to Canada aboard the Canada Pacific Line ship 'Montrose' in 1930 to work in farming.^[4] He returned to the UK in 1932 aboard the 'Duchess of Atholl' of the same line.^[5]

Service in France

Following the declaration of war by the United Kingdom and France on Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939^[6] a British Expeditionary Force (BEF) under the command of Lord Gort was sent to France. Although technical personnel had been arriving since September 4, the force began their move as a whole on September 10.^[7]

Lord Gort outlines in his dispatches that he made arrangements in November 1939 for a British brigade to serve on the Saar Front under French command.^[7] It was while serving in this capacity that Corporal Priday was killed in the area of Metz.^[1] On 9 December 1939 he was out on a night patrol when the group he was with lost their way in the dark. Corporal Priday stepped on a French landmine and was killed. He was buried with full military honours at Luttange Communal Cemetery.^[8][9] The funeral was attended by the French General in command of the area as well as a detachment of French troops.^[2] He died at the age of 27 while serving as a corporal with the 1st Battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI).^[9]

His death was reported in The Times on 1 January 1940 under the headline 'First British Soldier Killed in Action'.^[2]

Priday's younger brother Archibald served with the same battalion.^[2]

His family reside in Gloucestershire.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. "The King's Shropshire Light Infantry 1939 – 1945". Shropshire Regimental Museum. Archived from the original on 16 May 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
2. "Various – First British Soldier Killed in Action". The Times. No. 48501. 1 January 1940. p. 8.
3. Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, England; Reference Numbers: P265 IN 1/7
4. Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890–1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
5. The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists.; Class: BT26; Piece: 988
6. "1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany". BBC – On This Day. 3 September 1939.
7. Gort, Viscount. "First Despatch". The London Gazette (35305): 5899, 5901.
8. Allport, Alan (2015). Browned Off and Bloody-Minded: The British Soldier Goes to War 1939–1945. Yale University Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780300170757.
9. "Casualty Record - Corporal Thomas William Priday". Commonwealth War Graves Commission.