PRIVATE THOMAS GRAY HOPKYNS
SOUTH AFRICAN INFANTRY
20TH SEPTEMBER 1917 AGE 35
BURIED: WHITE HOUSE CEMETERY, ST JEAN-LES-YPRES, BELGIUM
The Reverend Thomas Gray Hopkyns was the Vicar of Randfontein, a gold-mining community in the Transvaal. In 1917 he enlisted in the South African Infantry and served as a stretcher bearer with the South African Medical Corps. He was killed in action whilst on stretcher-bearing duties.
His father was the vicar of Long Wittenham in Oxfordshire. There is a stained glass window in the church commemorating both father and son, which shows soldiers receiving communion at the front. This would indicate that Thomas Hopkyns acted as a priest as well as a stretcher bearer. His headstone inscription shows the importance his parents placed on the fact that their son should be known as more than simply a private in the South African Infantry.