Arthur Thomas Everitt, known as Thomas to his family, was born in Luton, Bedfordshire in 1880 the oldest child of Thomas and Rhoda Everitt. He had five younger siblings who were: Sidney, Fred, Stanley, Ellen and Mabel and when he was born the family lived at 61 Salisbury Road, Luton close to where his father plied his trade as a Butcher.

Little is known of young Thomas’ early life other than he was educated in Luton and that not long after leaving school aged thirteen, he met local girl Rosa Smith around 1894. Rosa was two years older than Thomas and three years after first meeting in 1897 they married in Luton. Thomas was seventeen and Rosa nineteen.

Their first child Sidney was born the following year. Thomas moved with Rosa and Sidney in 1898 to start work as a ‘Stock-Keeper’ with Dickinson & Co. Ltd. at Apsley Mills and the family settled in their new home at 19 Weymouth Street in Apsley End. Thomas and Rosa had five more children who were: Nellie, Florie (Florence) Ivy, Stanley, Alice and Rosa and by 1911 the family had moved a few yards to 24, Weymouth Street. Thomas was still working in Dickinsons and he was listed as a ‘Paper Maker’.

Sometime before the start of the war Thomas changed jobs and moved to G.B. Kent & Sons the brush makers, but still in Apsley. He would remain with the firm until he joined the colours.

On the outbreak of war Thomas enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment, attesting at Watford in October 1914 and he was posted to the newly formed 8th Battalion at Bedford. The 8th Battalion was a "Service" battalion that was formed specifically for the duration of the war as part of 'K3' - Lord Kitchener's third 'call to arms' for another 100,000 men. It was attached to the 71st Brigade of the 24th Division and remained there for a year, before transferring twice to end up with the 16th Brigade of the 6th Division.

Thomas undertook his basic training initially in Brighton for a brief spell, but then for almost seven months in the sprawling New Army training area around Woking in Surrey. Finally, the increasingly restless men of the 'Hungry 8th' (a nickname used in a letter home from Private 19861 Leslie Worboys) received orders to mobilise and prepared to ship out. At 11pm on the 28th August 1915, the Battalion boarded the troop trains at Chobham Station and left for Dover. After transferring straight onto troop ships, the troops arrived at Boulogne early on the 30th August 1915.

Within a month of disembarking in France Thomas saw action in The Battle of Loos. He was also in the line at Forward Cottage trenches north of Ypres, when the Army experienced the first German use of Phosgene gas on the 17th December and hundreds of men were lost in the attack.

Thomas returned home on leave for a short time in early February 1916 before returning to France on the 16th of the month. He would never return again.

By the 24th February 1916 he was back with the battalion which had moved to Ypres and Thomas was involved in trench work before moving up to the frontline and the position close to the Menin Road on the 29th of the month. The following day the battalion War Diary records the following: "1 Mar 1916 - trenches near Ieper In trenches right section 16 IB sector. - Bn HQrs and C Coy Ecole de Bienfaisance, A Coy 2 platoons MENIN CELLARS, 2 platoons X.1.A., B Coy H13-H15, F6, F11, D Coy H16, 17 & 19 & S18. Killed O.R. 1, wounded O.R. 2"

Thomas was the ‘O. R.’ killed on Wednesday, 1st March 1916.

A brief report of his death appeared in the Hemel Gazette ten days later. 

He is commemorated on the memorial plaque at G.B. Kent & Sons where he worked and at St. Mary’s Parish Church, Apsley where he worshipped.

Thomas is Remembered with Honour in Menin Road South Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, where he is interred in Grave I.L.15. The inscription on his headstone requested by his wife Rosa reads: “A LOVING FATHER A FATHER KIND A BEAUTIFUL MEMORY LEFT BEHIND”.

He was 36 years old when he died. 

Thomas was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.