Selected Biographies

Thompson, Donald George – Born: Cockfield, Suffolk on 9.12.1898.[1]   Parents: William George Thompson of Cockfield, Suffolk (Miller and Engineer) and Emma [née Ollington].  Family Connections: Son-in-law of Walter Steed Pearman [b1855] and brother-in-law of William Henry Pearman [b1890].  Home: Cross Green, Cockfield, Suffolk (1901), Nethergate Street, Clare, Suffolk (1911), Church Row, Long Melford (1921), Station Road, Clare, Suffolk (1939), Nethergate Street, Clare, Suffolk [1976].  Occupation: Motor Engineer and Garage Proprietor (1939).  Married: Edith Pearman of Long Melford [d1968] in 1921 and Margaret Victoria Twiddy in 1969.  Service Record: Donald enlisted in 1915 as Pte.3472 with 1/1^st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment, being posted to France on 28.9.1915 as part of 118^th Brigade, 39^th Division.  During his time on the Western Front, he saw action on the Somme in 1916, at the Third Battles of Ypres in 1917 and the Battle of the Lys in 1918.  It was probably in this last action in April 1918 that he was wounded.  He was re-numbered as Pte.326258 and in March 1919 was issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged.[2]  During the Second World War Donald Thompson was a Retained Fireman in Clare.[3]  Died: Clare, Suffolk on 22.2.1976.[4]

Thompson, Percy Walter – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk on 7.4.1888.[5]  Parents: Charles Thompson of Cavendish, Suffolk (Shoemaker) and Gilly Elizabeth [née Albon].  Family Connections: Father to William Percy Thompson [b1921]; also, brother to Thomas Thompson [b1877] and William Henry Thompson of Long Melford [b1893].   Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1891), The Green, Long Melford (1901), Cock and Bell Lane, Long Melford (1911), Hall Street, Long Melford (1921) to [1924].  Occupation: Blacksmith (1911 to 1921).  Married: Laura Ethel Shinn in 1914.  Service Record: At the Melford Military Service Tribunal in June 1916 David Ward, Percy’s employer applied for his exemption, which was granted on the condition his situation remained unchanged.  In August 1917 the military representative applied for a revision of the original certificate, which was granted on appeal.[6]  He was conscripted shortly after as Gnr.180215 with the Royal Garrison Artillery, it is not known however if he saw service abroad.[7]  Died: He was reported as having contracted tuberculosis on 14.4.1924, dying in Long Melford later in the year on 23 November.[8]

Thompson, Thomas ‘Tommy’ – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk on 29.3.1877.[9]  Parents: Charles Thompson (Shoemaker) and Gilly Elizabeth [née Albon].  Family Connections: Brother to Percy Walter Thompson [b1888] and William Henry Thompson of Long Melford [b1893].  Home: Ram Alley, Cavendish, Suffolk (1881), Hall St Long Melford (1891), Cock and Bell Lane, Long Melford (1911).  Occupation: Gardener’s Labourer (1911).  Service Record: Tommy may have enlisted as Pte.5438 with the Suffolk Regiment as early as 1900.  If this assumption is correct, then he was on the Army Reserve when war was declared.  He was posted to France on 12.11.1914 to join 2^nd Suffolks, which by that time had moved into the Ypres Salient as part of 8^th Brigade, 3^rd Division.  This battalion had required hundreds of reinforcements to make up for the devastating losses it had suffered at the Battle of Le Cateau in late August when more than 600 men had been either killed, wounded, or captured.  Without an extant Service Record, tracking Tommy Thompson’s progress will always be problematic.  However, at some point in 1915 he was transferred to ‘C’ Company, 1^st Suffolks, also stationed in the Salient with 28^th Division’s 84^th Brigade.  His new battalion had been badly mauled in May, when it took more than 500 casualties at the Battles of Frenzenberg Ridge and Bellewaarde Ridge.  As a battle-hardened soldier Thompson may have been drafted in to stiffen the untested reinforcements joining the battalion from England in the days that followed.[10]  Died: Tommy was listed as missing, presumed killed in action on 3.10.1915 during a failed attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt, a huge enemy strongpoint that projected hundreds of yards forward of the German front line.  Private Thompson is commemorated on the Loos Memorial [panel 37 and 38], Loos-en-Gohelle, Pas-de-Calais, France and on the War Memorial in Long Melford.[11]

Thompson, Victor William – Born: Cavendish, Suffolk on 6.12.1888.[12]  Parents: Richard Thompson (Maltster) and Thirza [née Bearman].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Leonard Albert Wiseman [b1884], William Bertie Wiseman [b1886], Percy Wiseman [b1890] and Frederick Wiseman [b1892] all from Long Melford.  Home: Peacock Road, Cavendish, Suffolk (1891), Poole Street, Cavendish (1901), High Street, West Mersea, Essex (1911) 36 Sandringham Road, Willesden Green, London. (1921 to 1939).  Occupation: Carpenter and Joiner (1911 to 1939).  Married: Minnie Ethel Wiseman of Long Melford in 1914.  Service Record: Victor enlisted on 12.1.1914 as Pte.510052 with the Royal Army Medical Corps being posted to various Field Ambulance units in Salonika from December 1916 until his discharge in 1919.[13]  Died: Willesden, Middlesex in 1957.

Thompson, William ‘Willie’ Henry [MM] – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 4.7.1893.[14]  Parents: Charles Thompson (Shoemaker) and Gilly Elizabeth [née Albon].  Family Connections: Brother to Tommy Thompson [b1877] and Percy Walter Thompson [b1888].  Home: The Green, Long Melford (1901), Cock and Bell Lane, Long Melford (1911).  Occupation: Stoker at Gas Works (1911).  Service Record: Willie enlisted as Pte.3/8446 with the Suffolk Regiment, being posted to France from 11.9.1914.  The prefix ‘3’ to his regimental number suggests that he had served in 3^rd [Militia] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment before the Great War.  Although we have no absolute proof which unit he joined when he was posted to the Western Front, like his brother Tommy his Service Record has not survived, it may have been 2^nd Suffolks as it took a large draft of reinforcements in early September 1914.  This battalion fought as part of 3^rd Division at the Battles of Bellewaarde and Hooge in 1915, and during the Somme Offensive of 1916 at the Battles of Bezentin, Delville Wood and the Ancre.  In October 1916 Willie was awarded the Military Medal, for gallantry shown during one of the actions earlier in the year.  He was later transferred as Pte.139526 to 3^rd Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, which had been formed early in 1918 out of other Machine Gun companies in 3^rd Division.[15]  Died: Private Thompson was killed in action on 21.3.1918, the opening day of the Battle of St Quentin.  The Battle was a series fighting withdrawals occasioned by the launch of Operation Michael, the beginning of the German Spring Offensive that was to rage for four months and cause more than a million casualties on both sides.  Willie is commemorated on both the Arras Memorial [bay 10], Faubourg d’Amiens British Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France, and the Long Melford War Memorial.[16]

Thompson, William Percy – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 21.4.1921.[17]  Parents: Percy Walter Thompson (Blacksmith) [see details above] and Laura [née Shinn].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1921), 6 Windmill Hill. Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Lecking Work (1939).  Married: Marjorie F. Eady in 1942.  Service Record: William was a member of the Local Defence Volunteers in Long Melford, being part of ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard when it was formed in August 1942.  His name is recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[18]  Died: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 1994.

Notes – [1] 1939 Register.  [2] [WO 329 – Silver War Badge ref: B264102], Medal Roll [WO 329], Medal Index Card [WO 372] and Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 [ref: 11/M/187712].  [3] 1939 Register.  [4] National Probate Calendar.  [5] Baptism Register 8.1.1889, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  [6] For the Tribunal’s rulings see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 21.6.1916 and 1.8.1917.  [7] Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 [ref: 11/M/414401 and 11/W/16882].  [8] Tuberculosis: Register of Notification from Medical Practitioners, Bury Record Office [ref: EF501/4/23].  [9] Baptism Register 2.6.1878, St Marys Church, Glemsford, Suffolk.  [10] For details regarding the issue of service numbers in the Suffolk Regiment see http://armyservicenumbers. blogspot.co.uk/ 2009/07/suffolk-regiment-1st-2nd-battalions.html.  For details of the movements of 2^nd and 1^st Suffolks respectively, see War Diaries [WO 95/1424/1] and [WO 95/2277/3].  For details of the action where Tommy lost his life see 1^st Suffolk’s War Diary and Lieutenant-Colonel C.C.R. Murphy The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928], pp.127-28.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [11] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 416542].  [12] 1939 Register.  [13] Soldiers’ Documents and Pension Claims, First World War [WO 364], [WO 329] Silver War Badge ref:469347], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329], and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [14] Baptism Register 18.10.1894, St Catherines Mission Church, Long Melford. [15] For notification of his Military Medal see the Supplement to the London Gazette 11.10.1916, p.9837.  The Commonwealth War Graves Commission record notes that Willie Thompson had been awarded the Military Medal.  The 2^nd, 4^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 11^th Suffolk Battalions were all stationed on the Somme Front during the summer and autumn of 1916.  For the formation of 3^rd MGC see the relevant page on https://longlongtrail.co.uk/.  For details of 2^nd Suffolks movements see War Diaries [WO 95/1424/1 and WO 95/1437/1], and for 3^rd MGC’s movements in 1918 see War Diary [WO 95/1405/1].  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [16] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 752666].  [17] 1939 Register.  [18] Published by Marten & Son, Ltd., of Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1946.