Regimental number | 438 |
Place of birth | Bathurst, New South Wales |
School | All Saints' College, Bathurst, New South Wales |
Religion | Church of England |
Occupation | Solicitor |
Address | c/o A G Thompson, Solicitor, Bathurst, New South Wales |
Marital status | Single |
Age at embarkation | 29 |
Height | 5' 10" |
Weight | 142 lbs |
Next of kin | Mother, Mrs Minna Augusta Thompson, c/o A G Thompson, Bathurst, New South Wales |
Previous military service | Nil |
Enlistment date | |
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
Rank on enlistment | Private |
Unit name | 20th Battalion, A Company |
AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/37/1 |
Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A35 Berrima on |
Rank from Nominal Roll | Captain |
Unit from Nominal Roll | 4th Battalion |
Fate | Killed in Action |
Age at death from cemetery records | 30 |
Place of burial | No known grave |
Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 29), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 163 |
Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Alfred Gordon (d. 6 July 1908) and Minna Augusta THOMPSON, 'Nyon', Wycombe Road, Neutral Bay, New South Wales. Native of Bathurst, New South Wales |
Family/military connections | First cousin: [286] Captain Raymond Vallack SINGLE, 56th Bn, killed in action, 26 September 1917. |
Other details |
War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front Embarked from Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 16 August 1915. Taken on strength, 4th Bn, 19 November 1915. To be 2nd Lt, 19 November 1915. To hospital, 2 December 1915 (oedaema); transferred on HS 'Gloucester Castle' to Alexandria, 4 December 1915; admitted to 21st General Hospital, 8 December 1915 (cardiac); transferred to Sirdarieh Convalescent Home, Alexandria, 13 January 1916; rejoined 4th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 11 February 1916. Transferred to 56th Bn, 16 February 1916. Promoted Lt, 10 March 1916. Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 29 July 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 9 August 1916. Marched in to 14th Training Bn, Lark Hill, England, 9 August 1916; taken on strength, 14th Training Bn, 2 September 1916. Promoted Captain, 14 December 1916. Proceeded overseas to France, 22 January 1917; rejoined 56th Bn, 27 January 1917. On leave to Paris, 16 June 1917; rejoined Bn from leave, 20 June 1917. Killed in action, 26 September 1917. Statement by Major H.L. CAMERON, 56th Bn: 'Grave location of the late Captain H.G. Thompson is as follows: WESTHOEK MAP: J.10.b.27.90. Sheet 28.N.E. approximately 1000 yards S.S.W. of MOLENAARELSTHOEK. This Officer was killed by enemy shell-fire on the afternoon of the attack at POLYGON WOOD. His death was instantaneous and he was buried at the above location by members of his company.' Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal |