June 29, 1917

On the morning of June 29, 1917, Thomas Wilson set out from his camp at Mgerigeri in a Ford car with an African porter.

Initially he went to the Rumbo camp to settle some work there.  Late in the afternoon he started driving back from Rumbo to the junction of the Mnasi-Mgerigeri road and took the turn toward Mnasi – presumably to give some order to the pioneers working there.

This road was often under attack from snipers and was dangerous to traverse without an escort.  While driving along this road about four miles from the junction he was sniped by the enemy.  He sustained shots in the arm, thigh and abdomen.  The car veered off the road and hit a tree where he died.  His African porter was captured by the enemy then re-captured by the British three weeks later.

Thomas was found and brought back to camp on June 30.  He was buried on that day by Archdeacon W. Chadwick at the south camp at Rumbo.  The service was attended by all the officers in the camp.

Wilson’s remains were removed to the Kilve Kivinje Cemetery in 1919 where a permanent headstone was erected in 1927.  He was later re-interred to the Dar-Es-Salaam War Cemetery most likely in the early 1970s.  He is also memorialized on the War Memorial at Roberton and on his family’s gravestone also in Roberton.