BORN DERBY 1884. LIVED HULL. SON OF THOMAS & ALICE ADAMS & 6 CHILDREN ABOVE ADDRESS (1911 CENSUS). DIED OF BRAIN FEVER. SINGLE MAN. ORIGINAL HULL PAL. A PRINTER BY TRADE. BURIED HULL WESTERN CEMETERY, AGED 30.

Hul Pals Memorial Post: Thomas was born in Derby in 1884, the eldest son of Thomas and Alice Adams of 10 Greek Street, Hull. A Fitter at a Printers by trade, he was there on the very first day outside City Hall, the 40th man in the queue for the fledgling Pals battalion. He never left town. Thomas died of 'Brain Fever' on 18th September 1914 at home in Hull. The Hull Daily Mail carried photographs of the procession as his new comrades marched from Greek Street to Western Cemetery where he was buried with full military honours having never even touched a rifle. The procession tells its own story, the men in ill-fitting suits and flat caps because the army has yet to provide them with uniforms.

As Philip Larkin wrote:

Never such innocence,

Never before or since,

As changed itself to past

Without a word--the men

Leaving the gardens tidy,

The thousands of marriages,

Lasting a little while longer:

Never such innocence again.