Guardsman George Thompson

 17713 - 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards

Born 1892, Cockermouth.  Date of Death Unknown

Son of George and Mary Ann (nee Hodgson) Thompson  of Ullswater House, Glenridding

Nephew of Edmund & Thomas and Brownrigg & Moffatt Thompson

George Thompson was born in 1892 in Cockermouth, the eldest son of George Thompson and Mary Ann (nee Hodgson). This was where his parents had first met, but shortly afterwards they returned to George’s father’s home of Glenridding. George senior was one of 10 children whose own father Edmund had originally been a miner but who eventually became a farmer at Side Farm in Patterdale. George senior  originally worked alongside his father as a lead miner, and then moved to the Rookings to work as a gardener. By 1911 he was living at Ullswater House in Glenridding, which Mary Ann ran as a boarding house whilst George was a chauffeur. As well as George junior George and Mary Ann had two other sons, Sidney, who died in infancy in 1893, and Clifton (born 1901).

After attending Patterdale School as a child, by 1911 George was still living with his parents and younger brother at Ullswater House in Glenridding and working as a general labourer. We know that he enlisted on 12th  December 1915, and from his service number it is likely that he did so just after his friends from the Dale who also joined the Coldstream Guards, George Cooper (born in the same year as George), and Ernest Lake (a few years older).

It is quite likely therefore that George served alongside both Ernest and George, through battles such as Passchendale and Ypres. The only reference we have found on his service was that in March 1917 he spent 2 days in No 19 Ambulance Train suffering from Trench Foot. We do not have a copy of his detailed service record but we know that at some point he received a gun shot wound to the chest. This was sufficiently serious for him to be honourably discharged at the end of the war on the 29th August 1919 and to be issued with the Silver War Badge. This was given to soldiers who had been wounded in action, usually overseas, and his papers shows that he was discharged under Page 392 (xvi) Kings Regulations - which meant the soldier had been released on account of being permanently physically unfit. His Silver War badge records also confirm this, stating that he had been discharged due to wounds received whilst fighting overseas. His Uncle Thomas Thompson also received the same award. We have no idea how badly he was injured but perhaps he was lucky as both of the childhood friends that he’d joined the Coldstream Guards with, George Cooper and Ernest Lake were killed in action.

Please click the links for more details of what happened to his Uncles Edmund and Thomas, and Moffatt, and Brownrigg, who also all served in the First World War and are listed on the Glenridding Roll of Honour alongside him George.  Sadly we have currently been unable to find out any details of what happened to George after the war. We believe his brother Clifton died in Halifax West Yorkshire in June 1967 at the age of 66.

If you can add anything to the story of George or his family please contact us.

Private George Robinson Cooper, schoolboy friend, who served alongside George in the Coldstream Guards, and was killed in action.

Private Ernest Lake, schoolboy friend, who served alongside George in the Coldstream Guards, and was killed in action.

George Thompson, Coldstream Guards, Medal Index Card