| 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 |  British Army |
| Rank | Corporal |
| Service number | 4031789 |
| Unit | King's Shropshire Light Infantry |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
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.
Early life
The son of Allen L. Priday and Elisabeth A. Priday of The Gravel Pits, Redmarley in Gloucestershire. His baptism is recorded as having taken place on 1 June 1913 in Redmarley. Priday travelled to Canada aboard the Canada Pacific Line ship 'Montrose' in 1930 to work in farming. He returned to the UK in 1932 aboard the 'Duchess of Atholl' of the same line.
Service in France
Following the declaration of war by the United Kingdom and France on Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939 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.
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. It was while serving in this capacity that Corporal Priday was killed in the area of Metz. 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. The funeral was attended by the French General in command of the area as well as a detachment of French troops. He died at the age of 27 while serving as a corporal with the 1st Battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI).
His death was reported in The Times on 1 January 1940 under the headline 'First British Soldier Killed in Action'.
Priday's younger brother Archibald served with the same battalion.
His family reside in Gloucestershire.
References
- ^ "The King's Shropshire Light Infantry 1939 – 1945". Shropshire Regimental Museum. Archived from the original on 16 May 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ "Various – First British Soldier Killed in Action". The Times. No. 48501. 1 January 1940. p. 8.
- Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, England; Reference Numbers: P265 IN 1/7
- Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890–1960 . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
- 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
- "1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany". BBC – On This Day. 3 September 1939.
- ^ Gort, Viscount. "First Despatch". The London Gazette (35305): 5899, 5901.
- Allport, Alan (2015). Browned Off and Bloody-Minded: The British Soldier Goes to War 1939–1945. Yale University Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780300170757.
- ^ "Casualty Record - Corporal Thomas William Priday". Commonwealth War Graves Commission.