Thomas Edward Healey was born at Exton on 20 July 1894, the son of Robert Healey and his wife. The family went on to live at Whitwell. Thomas was in private service until he enlisted into the Leicestershire Regiment in September 1914, a month after war was declared. He went to France in June 1915, and he fought in many of the First World War's key battles on the Western Front, at Loos, the Somme and Ypres. He was killed by a sniper's bullet at Bullecourt on 4 May 1917 aged 22 in the big Arras offensive. His body was never found and so he is remembered on Bay 5 of the Arras Memorial. Whitwell shares a war memorial with Exton, particularly appropriate for Thomas with his links to both villages. After the war his parents were recorded as living in Great Casterton.