| Thomas Adams was the son of John and Mary Adams. John Adams married Mary Bradley on 8th June 1870 in the district of Coleraine.
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| Thomas Adams was born on 5th June 1875 in Kilrea and baptised on 13th August of the same year.
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| His mother died one year later on 24th June 1876. She was 30 years old.
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| John Adams married Mary Alexander on 7th December 1876 in the district of Coleraine. They had eight children.
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| Family: John Adams (born about 1841), Mary Adams (nee Alexander, born about 1851), Thomas Adams (born 5th June 1875, mother nee Bradley), Robert Adams (born 18th December 1877), Annie Adams (born 5th March 1879), Sara Adams (born 16th November 1880), Isabella Adams (born 6th March 1882), Elizabeth R Adams (born 29th October 1883), Samuel Adams (born 24th February 1886), Torrans A Adams (born 20th March 1890), William Adams (born 25th September 1894).
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| They were a farming family that lived at Claragh House, north of Kilrea.
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| The 1901 census does not list Thomas as living with the family at house 16 in Claragh, Kilrea, County Londonderry.
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| The 1911 census does not list Thomas as living with the family at house 12 in Claragh, Kilrea.
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| Thomas set up in business in Glasgow a few years previous to the war.
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| Thomas Adams enlisted and joined the Gordon Highlanders and served with them throughout his time in the army.
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| Thomas Adams was sent to France in February 1917.
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| In April he was seriously wounded. He was removed to a casualty clearing station and then to a hospital in Etaples. Injuries to his right leg meant it had to be amputated.
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| Lance Corporal Thomas Adams died of his wounds a few days later on Saturday 28th April 1917. He was 41 years old.
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| From the Belfast Newsletter dated 9th May 1917:
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| Corporal Thomas Adams, Gordon Highlanders, who has died of wounds, was a son of Mr John Adams, Claragh House, Kilrea, County Derry. He was at business in Glasgow and volunteered early in 1916, being sent to France in February last. He took part in the recent big push, and was wounded in the right leg, and was admitted to hospital on Monday 23rd April. The leg had to be amputated, and he died on Friday 28th April. Being a true patriot, he said he would never be a conscript or a shirker.
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| After receiving news of his son’s death, Mr Adams was visited by Driver Joseph Hegarty, Motor Transport, who was on furlough. Driver Hegarty and Thomas were close friends in civilian life in Glasgow.
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| Lance Corporal Adams is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery. Etaples is a town about 27 kilometres south of Boulogne. During the First World War, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals.
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| Lance Corporal Thomas Adams is also commemorated on a plaque in 1st Kilrea Presbyterian Church and on the family headstone in the church grounds.
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| The CWGC record Lance Corporal Thomas Adams as the son of John and Mary Adams of Claragh, Kilrea, Co. Derry and as a native of Claragh.
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