Captain, Royal Marines
Born: February 1st 1916
Died: May 25th 1941
Age at Death: 25
Killed, May 25th 1941
House Prefect 1932
3rd 15 1933-1934
Scholar
Thomas was born on 1 February 1916 in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, to Alfred Cartwright, a professional army officer, and his wife Helen (née Thompson). After leaving the College, where he was a scholar and House Prefect, Cartwright joined the Royal Marines. In August 1940 he was promoted to captain and assigned to HMS Hood, a battlecruiser nicknamed ‘The Mighty Hood’ because of her deemed invincibility.
In 1941 the Hood took part in the hunt for the Bismarck, the powerful German battleship at loose in the Atlantic Ocean preying on Allied shipping. On 24 May 1941 the British public was shocked when the Hood suddenly exploded while in combat with the Bismarck, with only three men surviving. Cartwright was not among them. He is commemorated at the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.