Cpl 15307 John Edward Thompson

• Age: 30
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 28th April 1918
• Commemorated at: Voormezeele Cem Encl No. 3
  Panel Ref: XV.K.24

John Edward (known as Jack) Thompson was born in the December quarter of 1887, the son of Ernest Alfred Thompson and hios wife Ophelia Sarah Pilkington (née Walker).  His father was from Worcester, and his mother from Dublin.  They married in Liverpool in 1874 and had eleven children.  Birth records have been found for ten; John had older siblings Ethel St. John, born in 1877, Claudius Alfred 1878, Harry Ernest 1879, Frances Florence 1882, Dorothy Mary 1883, and Sarah Margery 1885 (died at 16 months), and younger brothers James Brady 1888, Ernest Alfred 1891 (died at six months), and Philip Arthur 1895 (died at two months). 

John was baptised in St. Margaret’s, Toxteth Park, on 02nd October 1887, his parents’ residence listed as Kimberley Street (off Upper Parliament Street), and his father’s occupation as clerk, telegraph branch, G.P.O. 

At the time of the 1891 census the family is living at 36 Clifton Road, Anfield, with seven children.  His father is a post office telegraphist, assistant superintendent, John is 3. 

By 1901 they have moved to 129 Grove Street, Mount Pleasant, and have six children at home.  His father is assistant superintendent P.O. telegraphs, John is 13.  His two older brothers are working; Claudius, 22, is a steward in the merchant service, and Harry, 20, is a clerk with Cunard. 

His father retired and died in 1903, aged 52, his well-attended funeral reported in the local paper.  

His mother is listed at various addresses on electoral rolls: 1904 at 106 Kingsley Road, 1906-8 at 81 Colebrook Road, and 1909 Dundonald Road.

In 1911 his widowed mother, 56, is head of household at 1 Dundonald Road, Aigburth.  Frances, 29, is a teacher, and John, 23, is a shipping clerk with a steamship company.  They have a 30-year old boarder, also a teacher. 

Prior to the war he was employed in the Baggage Department of  the Cunard Line.

He enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 31st August 1914 joining the 17^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private 15307.

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

Jack shipped to France with his battalion on 07th November 1915.

He was killed in action on the 28^th April 1918, aged 30, during the German Spring Offensive.

Details of the events are contained in the battalion diary:

By the 25^th April the battalion had taken up positions of readiness in the Voormezeele sector. According to the battalion War Diary, on the night of the 27^th, at 8.30 p.m. they moved to the line to relieve 4^th Bn, relief completed about 1 a.m.

28^th – At about 1 p.m. a company of composite battalion gave way on the left of our line and the Bosche penetrated from the Canal Bank to the left of my battalion front, which position he maintained despite 5 hours fighting. My reserve company was ordered to counter-attack and restore the position at 7.45 p.m. but enemy laid down a barrage at 7.43 a.m. and the counter attack was unable to proceed. The enemy bombardment lasted until 10.30 p.m. and I then organised a defensive flank.

CWGC Graves Registration form shows 15307 but the certificate erroneously gives his number as 15367 (all military records show regimental number 15307). His headstone correctly records his service number. We have contacted CWGC in the hope that their records can be amended and record John's correct service number.

Jack was buried close to where he fell and his grave marked with a “rough cross”.  After the war, when graves were concentrated, his body was removed and reinterred. 

He now rests at Voormezeele Cemetery Enc No 3, Belgium. The Inscription on his headstone reads:

“OH LORD MY STRENGTH AND MY REDEEMER”

The Voormizeele Enclosures (at one time there were a total of four, but now reduced to three) were originally regimental groups of graves, begun very early in the First World War and gradually increased until the village and the cemeteries were captured by the Germans after very heavy fighting on 29 April 1918.

Voormezeele Enclosure No.3, the largest of these burial grounds, was begun by the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in February 1915. Their graves are in Plot III, the other Plots from I to IX are the work of other units, or pairs of units, and include a few graves of October 1918. Plots X and XII are of a more general character. Plots XIII to XVI were made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from isolated sites and smaller cemeteries to replace the French graves (of April and September 1918) that were removed to a French cemetery. These concentrated graves cover the months from January 1915 to October 1918, and they include those of many men of the 15th Hampshires and other units who recaptured this ground early in September 1918.

There are now 1,611 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in Voormezeele Enclosure No.3. 609 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 15 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of five casualties whose graves in PHEASANT WOOD CEMETERY could not be found on concentration.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

His death was announced in the Liverpool Echo on 10th May 1918 in the Roll of Honour:

“Corporal John E. (Jack) Thompson, age 30, son of Mrs. Thompson, 1, Dundonald Road, Aigburth.  On Cunard staff, he joined “Pals”, went to France in 1915.  Twice slightly wounded.  Recommended for commission, but killed by sniper May 1.”   

There was evidently some confusion over his date of death;  his family placed a notice in the local newspaper:

 “May 1, killed in action, age 30 years, John E. (Jack), corporal, K.L.R., third dearly beloved son of Mrs. Thompson and the late Alfred E. Thompson, of 1,       Dundonald Road.” 

The battalion war diary records no casualties for 1st May (on that day the battalion was relieved and moved to SCOTTISH CAMP). 

Jack earned his three medals.

His Army effects and a War Gratuity of £18 went to his sister Dorothy Stevenson.  The pension card in the name of his mother, at 1 Dundonald Road, Aigburth, shows that she was awarded a pension of 10/- a week from November 1918. 

His mother Ophelia lived at 1 Dundonald Road until 1923, when she moved to 33 Beechwood Road to live with married daughter Dorothy Stevenson and son James Brady, next door to married daughter Frances Florence at no.31. 

She lost another son when James Brady died in Cairo in 1928 aged 39. 

His mother Ophelia died in 1931 aged 79. 

Jack is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Cunard Memorial Panels at St Nicholas Church in Liverpool.  

Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 38 Right.

We currently have no further information on John Edward Thompson, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.