Thomas was born on the 30 May 1898 the first child of Thomas Eckford and Alice (nee Kelly) Powell of 141, Manor Place, St. Saviour, Southwark, London and Surrey. A sister Winifred (1900) and a brother Francis (1909) completed the family who by 1911 had moved to the borough of Tooting, Wandsworth.

Thomas joined the RN on Tuesday 2 March 1915 when he crossed the gangway of HMS POWERFUL the “Boy Training Ship”in Devonport dockyard and became a “Boy 2c”. On the 2 May 1915 he crossed the gangway onto HMS IMPREGNABLE (ex HMS HOWE) another “Boy Training Ship” in the dockyard, where on the 26 June he was selected and rated “Boy Tel” with a draft to HMS VERNON in Portsmouth on the 22 July for a further 2 months training after which a draft on the 17 September to HMS MAIDSTONE in Harwich to complete a very busy year. On the 13 January 1916 he was made an “Ord Tel” before returning to Portsmouth and HMS DOLPHIN for a month of submarine training and upon completion a draft back to MAIDSTONE and E 34 on the 25 March 1916.

On the 1 December E 37 departed Harwich in company with E 54 for a patrol in the North Sea. Around 23:00 that night E 54 recorded in its log book an explosion and and felt a violet shock on its hull. E 37 was never heard from or seen again and it is thought she had hit a floating mine.

Thomas Eckford Powell,  Ord Tel,  Svc No. J36110 aged 18 had “Crossed The Bar”, one of the 30 crew members who disappeared that night.