Thomas Neale was born in the Botley, Oxfordshire, on 3rd June 1876. One of eight children, his parents were George and Mary Neale. George was an agricultural labourer and the family would settle in Cumnor, just over the Berkshire border.

Thomas was keen to make a life for himself and, on 29th December 1898, he enlisted as a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry. HIs service papers show that he had been employed as a general labour and the point he signed up, and give an indication into the man he was becoming. He was noted as being 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with grey eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion. He was also recorded as having a small scar on his right knee.

Private Neale was initially sent to the Royal Marines barracks in Deal, Kent, for his training. Over the next sixteen years, he would serve on eight ships, each time returning to what would become his home base, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in between voyages. While never outstanding, his annual reviews reported his good or very good character, and very good ability.

When war broke out in the summer of 1914, Private Neale was serving on board the battleship HMS Bulwark. Part of the Channel Fleet, her role was to patrol and protect the English Channel and south coast.

On 26th November she was moored up in the lower reaches of the River Medway, not far from Sheerness, being re-stocked with ammunition. That morning, a number of cordite charges overheated, detonating the shells stored nearby. The resulting explosion ripped through the battleship, and more than 740 crew were killed. Thomas was amongst those whose bodies were recovered and identified: he was 38 years of age.

The bodies that were recovered from the tragedy were taken to the Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham and laid to rest. Thomas Neale was buried alongside his colleagues in a marked grave, while those whose remains had not been identified were laid to rest in a mass grave nearby.

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