At the end of WW1, the Becontree Estate was built to house the returning soldiers, and those that were bombed out from the East End. The first parish building being acquired in 1922, under Reverend Butterworth, with the present church being built in 1927. The housing estate was the largest in Europe at the time. As the population of the estate increased, the Diocese bought the first site earmarked for a parish - St Thomas. This was a memorial to the late Bishop of Barking, Thomas Stevens, who had been described as "a man of God, a man for work, generous in his gifts and unsparing in his activities for the welfare and well-being of Barking and district". A temporary church was built and licensed for the administration of the Sacraments and Divine worship. On Thursday 28th May 1922, it was packed to the doors with many unable to gain admission. Before the end of September that year the number of children attending had grown from 5 to nearly 500, all squeezed in to a building made to accommodate 300, and at times children were turned away as there was no room!
The church of St. Thomas, was opened in 1927, with the help of funds from the sale of St. Jude's, Whitechapel. It is a red-brick building in the Gothic style, having a nave with west baptistery and passage aisles, a chancel, Lady chapel, and organ chamber. The advowson of the vicarage, originally vested in the Bishop of Chelmsford, was transferred to the Bishop of London in 1926. The church played an important part in the social life of the estate during its early years. The parish was later subdivided, as other new parishes in Dagenham and Barking were formed on the estate.
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The actor, comedien and musisian Dudley Moore (19 April 1935 - 27 March 2002) lived near by in Baron Road. At St Thomas's he was a choirboy from the age of six and was playing the pipe organ at weddings by the age of 14.
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