Private Thomas Edwin Forward
1st Battalion, the Australian Infantry
Date of Birth: 1884
Place of Birth: Efford, Shobrooke, (near Crediton)
Date of Death: 2 May 1915 aged 29
Buried: Remembered on Lone Pine Memorial, Turkey; St James’ Memorial Window, Teignmouth.
Private Thomas Edwin Forward (aka Rowdon), age 29.
Born 1884 at Shobrooke near Crediton, the son of Thomas and Hannah Forward (née Rowdon). In the 1891 census he was living at Dawlish with his widowed father, brother and sister.
Thomas attested on 2 January 1902 at Bristol with Royal Warwick Regiment, service number 8104, stating he was a labourer living at Newton St. Cyres, age 18.
He was sentenced to military imprisonment in 1902 and was eventually discharged “incorrigible and worthless” on 6 August 1903. His father Thomas was noted as his next of kin living at Newton St. Cyres, it was noted that he had two brothers.
Thomas served with 1st Battalion, Australian Infantry, A.I.F. Army service No 1102, he served under the name of Rowdon. He was killed in action on 2 May 1915. Memorials - Lone Pine Memorial, Turkey; St James’ Memorial Window, Teignmouth.
(Presumably Thomas took his mother's maiden name because of his previous army record.)
1st Battalion, the Australian Infantry
1st Battalion Australian troops at Gallipoli, 1915
The 1st Battalion of the Australian Infantry was attached to the 1st Brigade, in Egypt, later fighting in Gallipoli (Turkey) against the Turks.
