Thompson, Robert
Sergeant
No. 201703, 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
Killed in action on Thursday 20 September 1917 (aged 24)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium (Panel 18 to 19)
Ballywalter and District War Memorial
Ballywalter Presbyterian Church
BIOGRAPHY
The death of Sergeant Robert Thompson (No. 201703) was reported in the 13 October 1917 edition of the Newtownards Chronicle. Robert Thompson’s mother worked as housekeeper for John and Alice Wallace who lived in the townland of Ballyferris, Ballywalter. John Wallace was a farmer and his wife Alice died in 1912.
It was reported that Robert Thompson worked on the Wallace farm for nine years before he enlisted in 1911. Robert Thompson served at the Curragh for two years before being posted to India for a year. At the outbreak of the Great War he was posted to France and fought on the Western Front. He had two periods of home leave, the last one before he died being in March 1917.
Sergeant Robert Thompson (No. 201703) served with the 1st/4th Battalion King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) and he was killed in action on 20 September 1917. After Robert’s death his Commanding Officer, Captain Blain, wrote to Mrs Thompson to express his sincere sympathy. In the letter he explained that Robert was killed ‘while going forward with the Company under heavy shell and machine-gun fire’.
In the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects it is noted that his mother Mary was his sole legatee.
Sergeant Robert Thompson (No. 201703) has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium; on Ballywalter and District War Memorial and in Ballywalter Presbyterian Church.