Name
Reginald Gresham Thomson (MC)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/09/1918
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
King's Shropshire Light Infantry
'A' Coy., 1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Military Cross, Mentioned in Despatches
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BRIE BRITISH CEMETERY
Plot I, Row B, Grave 5.
France
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour,
St Mary's Parish Church Memorial, Watford
Pre War
Son of the late Rev George Ormond Lees and Louisa Elizabeth (nee PLUMBE) THOMSON of Taunton, Somerset, afterwards Bicester, Oxon.
His parents married 18 December 1884 at St Mary’s (or St Luke’s), Maidenhead, Berks. Louisa died 12 October 1900 in Bicester aged 33, and was buried 16 October at St Swithin’s, Merton, Bicester; George died 8 August 1909 in Merton aged 67, and was buried 12 August, also at St Swithin’s.
Reginald was born 1 August 1896 in Taunton, and baptised 2 September 1896 at St Mary Magdalene’s, Taunton. He attended Shirley House School, Watford, from September to December 1909; St Edmund’s School, Canterbury, from January 1910; and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
He has an entry in the National Probate Calendar.
On the 1901 Census, aged 4 he lived in Merton, with his widowed father and two siblings. On the 1911 Census, a school boy aged 14, he was a boarder in Canterbury.
Wartime Service
He joined the St Edmund’s School, Canterbury, Kent, O.T.C. 1 June 1911 and was appointed Lance-Corporal 20 September 1914.
He was nominated by the Army Council to a Cadetship at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst December 1914.
He suffered a gun shot wound to the right thorax at Mesopotamia 5 April 1916, and was sent to England aboard H.S. Letitia, arriving 9 June 1916.
He suffered another gun shot wound 21 March 1918 to the left shoulder, and spent time in the Military Hospital, Devonport.
He was entitled to the Victory, British War and 1914-15 Star medals, his qualifying date being November 1915, and died of wounds received in action.
Additional Information
There is an article about Reginald in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 28 September 1918; and two articles in the Western Times dated 28 September 1918 and 1 October 1918.
Acknowledgments
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
