Pte 52178 William Thompson

• Age: Unknown.
• From: Manchester
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• D.O.W Friday 7th December 1917
• Commemorated at: Bailleul Cc Ext
  Panel Ref: III.E.38

William Thompson was born in 1893 at Manchester and was the son of Henry Thompson and the husband of Florence (nee Brooks or Brookes). They married on 10th April1914 at St. John's Church, Moston, Manchester. Florence was born 10^th June 1894. Their son William was born on 03rd November 1914.

Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, William enlisted in about June or July 1915 in Manchester and served originally as Private 3216, Manchester Regiment. He was subsequently transferred and was serving in the 19th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 52178 when he died of wounds on the 07^th December 1917.

He now rests at Bailleul CC Extension, France.

Bailleul was occupied on 14 October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for considerable periods. It was a Corps headquarters until July 1917, when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of Bailleul (13-15 April 1918), it fell into German hands and was not retaken until 30 August 1918.

The earliest Commonwealth burials at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension was opened on the east side of the cemetery. The extension was used until April 1918, and again in September, and after the Armistice graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields.

BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION contains 4,403 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 11 of the graves made in April 1918 were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials. There are also 17 British burials of the Second World War (all 1940) and 154 German burials from both wars (10 of which are Second World War).

During the Second World War the cemetery suffered major bomb damage that necessitated the replacement of nearly 200 headstones after the war.

Both the Commonwealth plot in the communal cemetery and the extension were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.