Name
Arthur Thompson
Not known
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/11/1914
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Guardsman
12601
Grenadier Guards
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
WIMEREUX COMMUNAL CEMETERY
I. A. 22A.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
St Lawrence Church Memorial, Bovingdon,
Memorial Hall Memorial, Bovingdon
Pre War
Arthur Thompson was born in London, although his date of birth and parents are not known.
He married Annie Keziah Gowers (nee Bird) in Islington in the summer of 1913. She already had a child Albert James Gowers, who was born in 1905, from her previous marriage to James Gowers in 1903 in Hemel Hempstead.
Annie had been born in Bovingdon, Herts in 1874 and was living at 218 Hornsey Road, Holloway on 1911 census, with her parents in law and son. Her husband died later the same year aged 35.
Arthur was working as a labourer when he enlisted in the army in 1906.
Wartime Service
Arthur joined the Grenadier Guards on 12 February 1906 and may have been a serving soldier at the outbreak of war, or a recalled reservist.
He went to France with the 2nd Battalion on 13 August 1914.
He was wounded in action during the First Battle of Ypres and died at the Australian Voluntary Hospital at Wimereux, Boulogne. He is buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £3 10s 2d. She also received a pension of 12s 6d a week for herself and his stepchild Albert.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, Dick West
