Name
Frederick John Thompson
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/08/1916
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2312
Hertfordshire Regiment
4th Coy. 1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BROWN'S ROAD MILITARY CEMETERY, FESTUBERT
II. C. 16.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin, 4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, Addenda to the Pirton Village Memorial, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Biography
Frederick was brought to our attention by the late Lynda Smith who was deeply involved with the website project www.roll-of-honour.com. Once identified other information quickly came to light, initially from Allan Grant of Pirton and then from the research of David Baines.
The parish records show that Fred was the son of Elijah and Polly (Mary Ann) Thompson (née Stapleton), both of whom were born in Holwell. In 1901 they were living in Holwell Road with their five children, Elizabeth (b c1887), Eveline (b c1890), Ida Mary (b c1893), Frederick John (b June 7th 1896) and Hubert Charles (b 1900 or 1901). The family had moved between Holwell, Shillington and Pirton, presumably following the farm work that employed Elijah. Both Fred and Hubert were born in Pirton and both served in the war. Hubert was in the navy and he survived.
Allan Grant, who is married to Liz Thompson, confirmed that Hubert was his wife’s father, and therefore Fred was her uncle. He also confirmed that the family lived at the Holwell end of the row of twelve terraced cottages in Holwell Road. These cottages were also known as the ‘Twelve Apostles’ and, more informally, as ‘Merry Arse Row’ – apparently due to the amount of children with no nappies!
By 1911 the family was living in Holwell and now had a sixth child, Constance Mary, born in Holwell around 1909. Fred, although only fourteen was already earning a wage as a farm labourer.
Before the war, in January 1914, like many local men, Fred joined Hitchin Territorials, probably attracted by the mix of soldiering, socialising and the summer break away in a training camp. From his service records we know that he was then seventeen and seven months old and at 5’ 11 ½“ was a tall lad, but very thin. At the outbreak of war Fred was living in Hitchin in 3 Barker's Cottages, Hitchin Hill (also called Sunnyside) and he was employed as a polisher of horse drawn hearses at Ralph Saunders Coach Builders on the Walsworth Road. When war was declared, as a Territorial he was mobilised, but he was only required to defend home soil and could not be ordered to undertake overseas duty. Fred was then eighteen and keen to fight so he volunteered, signing his overseas service papers on August 31st 1914. As a Territorial he would normally have received a shorter period of training than most, but officially the rule was that no man under nineteen should be sent overseas to fight and although that was not always adhered to, it seems to have been with Fred. To his dismay he had to watch his friends and comrades go when the 1st Hertfords were ordered overseas on November 1st 1914. With the older, trained soldiers departing, Fred would have been senior to the raw recruits arriving and that probably explains his promotion to Lance Corporal on December 22nd.
He finally left for France on July 10th 1915, embarking at Southampton, but he did not join the Hertfords immediately as he was attached to the 4th Entrenching Battalion in Rouen on July 20th 1915. He seems to have finally re-joined his own Regiment on November 9th and, for his own reasons, asked to revert to the rank of Private. He was still very young and had no battle experience, perhaps he felt uncomfortable being in charge of older, more experienced fighting men. Apart from a sprained knee in June 1916 he seems to have remained unscathed until his death on August 3rd 1916 when he was just twenty.
He must have died in an isolated incident because according to the Battalion history in the spring and summer of 1916 they were not involved in any major engagements and mainly acted as relief for other regiments. The Battalion war diary confirms that they relieved the 13th Royal Sussex Regiment in the area of Festubert on August 1st and then stayed in the line until the 7th. The diary does not record Fred’s death, but does mention that Company Serjeant Major Langford was killed by a shell during this period. Fred is recorded elsewhere as being killed instantly, when he was shot in the head while in the trenches. The family believe this was a bullet fired by a sniper in a church tower who was in turn killed shortly afterwards. His mother’s death quickly followed, perhaps the shock of losing one of her sons contributed. Nothing more is known, because, as was common in many families, after the tragedy Fred was rarely spoken about. However, Liz's brother, who lives in Holwell, was named after him.
Fred was buried near where he fell and rests in the Browns Road Military Cemetery, Festubert, France, plot II.C.16. He is also recorded on the Hitchin Town War Memorial and on the TA Memorial at the Drill Hall on Bedford Road, Hitchin, but not on the Pirton or Holwell Memorials.
Additional Information
Text from the book: The Pride of Pirton
Acknowledgments
The Pride of Pirton book – www.pirton.org.uk/prideofpirton Chris Ryan / Tony French / Jonty Wild
