Year of birth: 1898

Place of birth: Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland, United Kingdom

Profession: Student

Country: Ireland, United Kingdom

Force: British Expeditionary Force

Rank: Captain

Service number: /

Enlistment date: 19/16

Enlistment place: Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland, United Kingdom

Units:  —  Royal Irish Fusiliers, 9th Bn.  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 18/08/1917

Place of death: No. 3 Australian Casualty Clearing Station, Brandhoek, Belgium

Cause of death: Died of wounds (D.O.W.)

Age: 19

1914-15 Star Medal

British War Medal Medal

Victory Medal Medal

On 16 August 1917, the 9th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers came under heavy enemy fire. They reached Gallipoli and Hill 35 but the positions were impossible to hold. Due to German counter attacks they had to fall back to their starting position. Thomas was wounded during this attack, he had a gunshot wound to the throat. The 9th Battalion left the line on 17 September and moved to Vlamertinge. Captain Shillington was taken back to the N°3 Australian Casualty Clearing Station in Brandhoek (a hamlet of Vlamertinge), where he died of his wounds on 18 September.

9 Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers (The National Archives, Kew (TNA) WO 95/2505/2). https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ Sources used

Cunliffe Marcus, The Royal Irish Fusiliers : 1793-1968 (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1970). Sources used

Harris Henry, The Royal Irish Fusiliers (the 87th and 89th Regiments of Foot) (London, Leo Cooper, 1972). Sources used

McCarthy, Chris. Passchendaele. The Day-by-Day Account (London: Unicorn Publishing Group, 2018). Sources used

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/140473

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=6eaaca18-4489-414b-8a74-467deb82e81e

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4014279