More about David James Thomas

In October 1918 Submarine G-7 was on patrol in the North Sea. Communications were lost on 23rd October and she was declared lost on 1st November. She was the last British Submarine to be lost in WW1.

For more information on the sinking of Submarine G-7, View here.

THOMAS, DAVID JAMES (36), Able Seaman (no. 197451), HMS G-7, Royal Navy, †01/11/1918, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. Son of David Price Thomas and Caroline Fisher Thomas, of Bank Cottage Farm, Burry Port, Carmarthenshire; husband of Charlotte Bett Thomas, of 7, Hill St., Dundee, Memorial: Plymouth Naval Memorial Read more at wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?407

David J Thomas was born in Wales and was the husband of Mrs Charlotte Bett Thomas of 7 Hill Street, Dundee. He worked as a Collier when he joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class in January 1898. After initial Naval training onboard HMS Impregnable in Devonport he went to sea in the newly built Armoured Cruisers HMS Black Prince and HMS Minotaur. He served onboard several other ships before transferring to the Submarine Service about 1909. He served in a submarine attached to HMS Vulcan based in the River Tay at Dundee. On the outbreak of war he was based on the Depot Ship HMS Forth and remained in submarines throughout the war. David Thomas lost his life when HMS Submarine G7 failed to return from patrol in the North Sea. In 1918 HMS G7 (Lt Charles A C Russell RN) operated out of Blyth patrolling the North Sea. Contact was lost on the 23rd October and she was declared lost on 1st November, the last British submarine lost in WW1. In 2015 a submarine wreck found off the Farne Islands was identified as the G7, and is thought to struck a mine or been hit by a surface ship whilst returning from patrol. David Thomas is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial on Plymouth Hoe in Devon and the Clepington Church. He was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. RNSubs, the website of the Barrow in Furness Submariners Association has the following entry. “I am the granddaughter of David James Thomas, torpedoman lost on the G7. Thank you for finding my grandfathers resting place. My grandmother loved him all her life. They were married in Dundee in 1916 and my mother born 1917. He was my first hero. God bless you. Charlotte Bleh Sat, 16 Dec 2017.”