Wilfred Thompson

Wilfred Thompson, Private, service number 8903, 8^th Battalion Royal Fusiliers was killed in action in France on Saturday 7^th October 1916, age 22. His name appears on the Steeple Morden War Memorial and the Ely Cathedral Memorial, where it is mis-spelt Thomson.

Family Background

When Edward Thompson married Anne Hows at Wendy on 1 September 1738 he was described as being of Guilden Morden, the first mention of him in that parish. His origin is uncertain, but he may have been born in 1713 at Little Downham, Cambs. What is certain is that an extensive family of Thompsons descended from him and became established at Guilden over many years.

It was Jesse Thompson, great-great-grandson of Edward, who brought a branch of the family to Steeple Morden, when he married Alice Jane Miller of North Brook End, Steeple on 16 October 1889. Initially, they settled in a cottage at Great Green, Guilden, but moved a couple of years later to another cottage at the end of Bogs Gap (Abington Road) in Steeple.

Typical of that period, they had a large family – eight children – six boys and two girls. The third child was Wilfred born 30 Dec 1894 at Bogs Gap and baptised 6 April 1895 at Steeple Morden Church.

In the 1901 Census, Wilfred was one of six siblings at home at Bogs Gap, with parents Jesse and Alice Jane. His age is given as 6, with occupation blank The common description scholar appears not to have been used in these returns.

Ten years later in the 1911 Census, Wilfred has left home and is living in the household of the Rev Theodore Rivington and his wife Harriet at Sotby Rectory in Lincolnshire. They are both aged 59 and childless. There is a cook Miss Margaret Mapple and Wilfred age 16 “Houseboy Domestic Servant” born at Steeple Morden.

One wonders how he came to go into domestic service and arrived at a rectory in a small quiet village in the midst of the Lincolnshire Wolds? Did he remain there until he enlisted in the Army in August 1914?

Military Background

8^th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was raised at Hounslow on 21 August 1914. Wilfred is believed to have enlisted at Wimbledon, in the last week of August 1914. He would have undergone initial training at Colchester and final training near Aldershot, after which the Battalion was sent to France and landed at Boulogne on 30-31 May 1915.

They underwent trench warfare familiarisation training at Ploegsteert and their first major engagement was the Battle of Loos in September. They spent the winter of 1915-16 “trench holding” around Noeux-les-Mines and Lillers and in March 1916 took part in the attack to recapture the Hohenzollern Redout, suffering heavy casualties from machine gun fire. In the summer of 1916, the battalion moved south to participate in the Battle of the Somme, where they were involved in several of the most famous and deadly engagements of that campaign. It is fair to say Wilfred was in the thick of it.

In September and early October 1916 they continued to be heavily engaged in the Battle of the Somme, around the Lesboeufs area, enduring heavy artillery bombardment, resulting in massive casualties. On 7 October 1916 came the assault to capture Bayonet Trench near Gueudecourttook place in the afternoon, around 1:45 pm, with the battalion facing extremely difficult conditions, including heavy mud and intense German machine-gun fire. While some units reached the objectives, the cost was high, and many men were lost in the confusion of the muddy battlefield. Wilfred was one of the many casualties and at the end of the day Private Wilfred Thompson was recorded as missing in action.

His body was never found and identified, so there is no known grave. However, Wilfred is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France Pier and Face 8 C, 9 A and 16 A.

His main Army records have not survived, although there is his Soldiers’ Effects account showing apparent back pay due of £6 16s 0d paid to his father Jesse in January 1918 and a War Gratuity of £8 10s 0d paid to his mother Alice Jane in October 1919.

Wilfred made a soldier’s will on 9 March 1915 and that has also survived, leaving everything to his mother. His Dependant’s Pension record card has also survived showing a pension of 5s a week paid to his mother from 6 November 1918, increasing to 10s a week from 30 December 1918. On this card his rank is entered as L/Cpl., although that is the sole mention and elsewhere he is recorded as Private.

The Girl He Left Behind

The vicar of Steeple Morden Rev Edward Orlebar decided in 1909 to take on farming the glebe land and recruited George Phillips to be his farm manager. With his family George moved into one of the glebe cottages in Hay Street. He had two daughters Eleanor Jane and Annie. Eleanor was sent by Mrs Orlebar to train as a cook and settled into the Rectory as the family cook.

Annie went into service and in the 1911 Census is 18 years of age and nurse maid to the family of John Hazael Green, clerk at the Bank of England, at Locks Hill, Rochford, Essex. She returned to Steeple Morden to become maid at the Rectory. At some point she and a young village lad, none other than Wilfred Thompson, began courting, until she had to bid him farewell, when he enlisted in the Army and went off to war. She vowed to wait for him and although he never returned, she kept true to her vow and never married.

The Phillips family moved to Litlington, after the Orlebars left the Rectory in 1920, until in 1948 Eleanor Jane, now married and widowed, with a daughter Annie Clarice Lee and her sister Annie moved to Cheyney Street to re-open the Steeple Morden Post Office. Annie died there, still unmarried, 13 May 1966.

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