EDEN, Thomas

Thomas Eden was born in Halesowen and was living in 1914 with his wife, Elsie, at 49 Windmill Hill, Cradley. He was a coal miner at Harper and Moores and, when he was informed that his brother, George, had been killed in action on the Aisne in 1914, he volunteered for war service. He enlisted in the Royal Engineers in November 1915 and was posted to the 257th Tunnelling Company. This unit was in the Neuve Chapelle area and engaged in the highly dangerous activities associated with mining under enemy lines. In July 1916 he was gassed and returned home until January 1917. He went into the front line again in late March and died from drowning on the 9th April when the gallery he was working in was flooded. Sapper Thomas Eden was 29 years of age and is buried in the Rue du Bacquerot Cemetery at Laventie (III A 16) and commemorated on the Cradley and Halesowen Memorials. His brother, George, was a regular soldier who was killed on the Aisne on the 21st September 1914.