During our research into the former pupils of Hereford Cathedral School who served in WW1, we found that all of the letters of Thomas Wilmot to his mother in Ross on Wye had survived and are held in the Imperial War Museum.

They start with his account of his summer term of sport at HCS in 1913. Thomas and his brothers were boarders in No1 and he was a keen sportsman.  On leaving school, Thomas headed for Canada to work and at the outbreak of War his letters shown how desperate he was to get back to England to join up.

There is a gap in the letters during which time we can only assume that he was making his way back to England where he signed up in early 1915.

We intend to publish Tom’s letters, releasing them one hundred years on from the date on which they were written so that we may follow Tom’s story as the war unfolds.

Our thanks for permission to use these letters go to Tom’s relatives; to the Imperial War Museum and to Dr Frances Hurd who spent many hours making the transcripts.