I was born Eric Thompson in 1900 in Hull, Yorkshire. Immediately after I was born, my family moved to North Kelsey, Lincolnshire. This is where my younger brother Leslie Jackson Thompson was born. My father was William Thompson and he married my mother, Bertha Emma, in 1899. In the 1871 census my father was listed as a shoemaker but he later worked as a Railway Station Master at the Great Central Railway Station, and he continued to do so until at least 1914. On 2nd April 1911, when I was eleven, my family moved to High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. We lived in Priory Avenue and later my parents moved to Harlow Road, very near to the railway station. In 1912, I went to the Royal Grammar School and continued there until 1914. Then the Great War began. I enlisted in High Wycombe, ending up in the Somerset Light Infantry 2/4th Battalion.
My battalion began the war in December, and they were sent to India, arriving in January 1915, where the 45th Division was broken up. We later moved to the Andaman Islands in August, before returning to India in January 1916. I was later deployed in September to Suez, where I saw my first serious action. While there, I was assigned to the 232nd Brigade and 75th Division. We went on to see combat in the Third Battle of Gaza, the Capture of Gaza, the Capture of Junction Station and the Battle of Nabi Samweil later in 1917. I was moved to France in May of 1918. I went on to fight in the Battle of Soissonnais, just a few weeks before I died. This was a decisive push to retrieve lost ground at Paris from the Germans, and with 100,000 casualties, the allies achieved a decisive victory on the 22nd July.
I later succumbed to my wounds and died a week later on 31st July 1918 in a field hospital, from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Honestly, I have no idea who shot me, whether it was a German straggler or a stray bullet, I cannot say. It was a week after the battle ended. I was 19 years of age.
Researched by James, John Hampden Grammar School and Sally Scagell, Lost the Plot
