Name
(Ernest) Cecil Thompson
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/08/1917
40
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
70171
Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment)
16th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 39 and 41
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hunsdon War Memorial, Memorial Plaque St Dunstan’s Church, Hunsdon, Not on the Stevenage Old Town memorials
Pre War
Born in 1877, in Stevenage, to parents Arthur and Betsy, in 1881 they were living in Hitchin and his father was a Sergeant of police, he had three brothers, William. James and Herbert.
By 1891 the family had moved to Letchworth and his father was a publican, in the William’s Arms, he had gained another brother Frank and a sister, Annie. In 1901 Cecil was living in Hunsdon Street, Hunsdon, with his widowed mother and he appeared to be unemployed. Then in 1911 he was still with his mother and his brother Frank had rejoined the household and Cecil was now working as a domestic gardener.
Wartime Service
Ernest joined the Notts and Derby Regiment (Sherwood Foresters) in the 16th Battalion and arrived in France in late April 1916, they fought during the Somme campaign from August until November 1916, where they took part in the fighting for Thiepval Ridge, Ancre Heights and Schwaben Redoubt.
They were then transferred to the Ypres salient where they fought in the 3rd Battle of Ypres, where they were involved in the battles for Pilkem Ridge, Langemarck and Passchendaele where Ernest was killed.
Acknowledgments
Terry & Glenis Collins
