William Thompson (1889-1918)
From Coundon. Died of pneumonia in India five days before the Armistice.
Born in Castle Eden in 1889, William Thompson was living with his parents in Coundon and working as a miner, when he enlisted as a Regular soldier in the DLI in August 1908. Previously he had served for three years as a volunteer in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion DLI in Bishop Auckland. In 1909, after his initial training, 10455 Private Thompson was posted to the 1st Battalion DLI in India and he remained there until his death in 1918.
When the Great War began in August 1914, 1 DLI was on garrison duty at Nowshera in India. Though many of its soldiers were veterans of the Boer War and hard fighting on the North West Frontier of India, the 1st Battalion was not recalled home. Instead it remained in India fighting small police actions against the Mohmand and other frontier tribes between 1915 and 1917.
In June 1915, during one of these actions, Private Thompson slipped coming down a hill and twisted his right knee, worsening an injury suffered in a football match in 1912.
In November 1917, 1 DLI moved to Rawalpindi. There William Thompson caught ‘Spanish flu’ and died of pneumonia on 6 November 1918.
In 1918, a flu pandemic – ‘Spanish flu’ – swept the world, killing an estimated 100 million people world-wide, including some 17 million people in India.
For further information:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/909731/thompson,-/
North East War Memorials Project: http://www.newmp.org.uk/detail.php?contentId=6767#listlink
For further information about Spanish Flu, see the Imperial War Museum’s blog: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/spanish-flu-the-unseen-enemy
Civil Parish: Coundon
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 1908 on enlistment: 16 Grange Cottages, Coundon, Bishop Auckland.
Family: Parents: William & Hanna Thompson
Military service:
Private 2nd Volunteer Battalion DLI, c.1905-1908.
Enlisted as DLI Regular 25 August 1908.
10455 Private Thompson posted to 1st Battalion DLI in India 1909.
Medal(s): 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Memorial(s): Buried: Rawalpindi War Cemetery, India.
War Memorial, Coundon.
Gender: Male
Contributed by Durham County Record Office
