Gordon Thorne was born in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire in the Summer of 1885, the second son and fourth child of William Thorne and Annie Cox who had nine children together. The children were: Harriet Annie, Margaret, Colin, Gordon, William, Mabel, Noel, Harold and Leonard. Gordon’s brother William served with the Royal Field Artillery in the Great War and survived the conflict. William Thorne was a ‘Coachman’ and in 1891 he lived with his family at 50 Piccott’s End next door to the Smeathman family, who’s sons Julian and Cecil died on the same day in the Great War. By 1901 the family had moved to 62 Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead and fifteen-year-old Gordon was working as a ‘Moulder’s Apprentice’ in the nearby Boxmoor Iron Works on the Marlowes.

When he reached his eighteenth birthday in 1904, Gordon enlisted with the 2nd Hertfordshire Volunteers to supplement his wages. The 2nd Herts were a teriitorial force and a battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment and Gordon signed up for four years. In 1908, his service completed, he re-enlisted with the Territorials, this time with the 4th East Anglian Brigade, Royal Field Artillery for another period of four years.

On the outbreak of war, Gordon was living in Kilburn, Middlesex and he voluteered immediately and enlisted with the East Surrey Regiment. He was posted to 2nd Battalion to train and subsequently went to France on the 27th April 1915 and joined the Battalion at Zonnebeke on the 30th. He was transferred with thirty other experienced ‘old’ soldiers, to the 7th (Service) Battlion East Surreys, one of Kitchener’s ‘new armies’ formed for the hostilities. He joined his new comrades in September 1915 near Armentieres and he now came under the orders of the 37th Brigade in the 12th (Eastern) Division.

He arrived just in time to fight in the Battle of Loos in late September and the actions at the Hohenzollern Redoubt, where the 7th East Surreys incurred heavy casualties. The Battalion War Diary recorded the following: “13th – 14th October…56 other ranks were killed and 156 wounded & 33 missing of which it is hoped will subsequently be brought in wounded. …”. By June 1916, Gordon was at the Somme as prepartions were underway for the impending offensive. On the 2nd July he went into action at the Battle of Albert, mercifully because the 37th Brigade attacked at nght, the casulties incurred were significantly lower than the previous days advance over no-man’s land. In all, the Brigade suffered 1090 casualties of which fifty-three were from the East Surreys.

The 7th East Surreys quickly developed a reputation as an efficient and reliable fighting unit and the Battalion War Diaries record a letter recieved on 12th July from G.O.C. 36th Infantry Brigade, General Boyd Moss as follows: "12th July, 1916. Dear Cater, I have been trying to get to see you to thank you for the excellent work done by the East Surreys when they came out to help me in OVILLIERS. They are a top-hole lot, and did splendidly. I never had a moments anxiety after they arrived. Will you please thank Col. Baldwin for me and tell him how much his services were appreciated. Yours sincerely, L. Boyd Moss." From the 23rd July, Gordon was again in action as the Battle of Pozières was fought. This action continued with numerous attacks through August and into early September before there was any respite for Gordon and his comrades.

In 1917, Gordon and the East Surreys fought in the Battle of Arras beginning with the First Battle of the Scarpe on the 9th April when casualties were again heavy. The Battalion suffered 181 men Killed, Wounded and Missing, just over twenty-one percent of the dwindling Unit strength, which by the 10th April was down to 674 men in total. The Second Battle of the Scarpe came next for Gordon, when on the 3rd and 4th May he fought with his comrades in attacks which again came at a heavy cost for the 37th Brigade and the 7th East Surreys. Approximately 250 men were casualties in the action which Gordon came through unscathed.

June proved a relief for the East Surreys and the men of the 37th Brigade which, rather bizarrely, held a Sports Day on Sunday, June 3rd which included: boxing, athletics and a drum competition. This was followed two days later by the Brigade ‘Horse Show’. No doubt all of this was a welcome diversion from the recent mayhem of battle. On the 13th June the 7th Battalion East Surreys held an ‘Assault at Arms’ competition which, as well as promoting relaxation, had the practical training objective of drilling, bayoneting, marching and rapid loading tests for the men. The lull in the action continued through July and into August when Gordon and his comrades were in reserve at Monchy.

They came under enemy shelling on a number of occasions between the 2nd and 4th of the month and it was during one of these barrages that Gordon’s luck finally ran out. On the 4th August he was one of three men wounded when they were acting as ‘Scouts’ in a forward position. This was a duty which involved observing and sniping and came with obvious risks. Gordon was taken down the line to a Casualty Clearing Station and it was there that he succumbed to his wounds.

Gordon died on Sunday, 5th August 1917.

Gordon is remembered with Honour in Tilloy British Cemetery, Tilloy-Les-Mofflaines, Pas-de-Calais, France, where he is interred in Grave I. J. 10. The inscription on his headstone, requested by his mother Annie, reads: “IN MEMORY EVER DEAR.”

He was 32 years old when he died.

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