A BOOK has been published ahead of the centenary of the Armistice of the First World War in honour of the men named on the Tadley War Memorial.

In Grateful Remembrance has been available since November 3, telling the stories of the 31 who died during the conflict and six who died in the Second World War, as well as the lives of those they left behind at home.

Put together by Tadley and District History Society, with financial assistance from Tadley Town Council, one of the stories featuring in the book is that of Thomas Edward Painton-Jones, who was born in Tadley on March 18, 1877.

His parents, William and Martha Elizabeth Jones, were married in Brighton in 1875, and he had one sibling, a younger sister Mary Jane Langham.

Thomas married a widow, Emily Annie Smith, at St Peter’s Church, in South Africa on November 15, 1905.

He served with the 49th Company in the Boer War in South Africa from 1900 to 1902.

At the onset of war, Thomas and Emily left South Africa in August, moving to Kent and he re-joined the army on October 31, 1914, enlisting in the 6th London Regiment (City of London Rifles), serving as a captain in the 1/6th Battalion, serving in France and Belgium.

He was killed in action at High Wood on the first day of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on Friday, September 15, aged 39.

The High Wood action was the first time that tanks were used in action and was part of the Somme offensive which lasted from July to November 1916.

The inscription on Thomas’ plaque at Tadley War Memorial reads: ‘To the Glory of God and in loving memory of Capt. T E Painton Jones who fell in France 15 Sept 1916. This tablet is placed here by his widow’.

Thomas was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.