Private Andrew Thompson

Private Andrew Thompson, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action at Gallipoli, aged 21, on the 12th July 1915 during the ” Charge” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah. He had been born in Southdean and was the son of John and the late Janet Thompson of Carter House, Southdean. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. Before enlisting in late 1914 he had been employed as a shepherd at Broombaulks farm. He had been a member of the Edgerston Recreation Club and was well known in the Upper Jedwater district. 12th July became known as the “Black Day of the Borders” as out of the over 700 Officers and Men who began the attack only 70 unwounded men answered evening roll call. Few Border towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons that fateful day. (An excellent account of the action can be found in Gavin Richardson’s book ” For King Country and the Scottish Borderers”). The author’s great uncle Jim Murray was slightly wounded and spent 6 weeks in hospital in Alexandria before returning to the Peninsula. He later fought through Egypt, Palestine and France before returning to Coldstream in December 1918. The first photo shows Achi Baba, marked with a cross, the ultimate objective of the attack. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows Borderers ” going over the top” at Gallipoli and the third shows the battlefield taken in 1922.