Private George Thompson

Private George Thompson, 3 Coy. 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in France on 16th September 1915, aged 22. He was the son of Thomas and Annie Thompson of Plantation House, Wooler and is buried in Chapelle-D’ Armentieres Old Military Cemetery, Armentieres, France. Before the War he had been a Gamekeeper  with Mr Collingwood of Plantain House, Lilburn and was reckoned to be an excellent shot. He had joined the Territorials before the War and became a Battalion sniper where it is said he accounted for a good many Germans before he himself was sniped. From the 6th to the 18th September the Battalion held front line trenches Nos. 70 and 71 near Chappelle D’ Armentieres and had casualties of 2 killed and 3 wounded. The photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to commemorate the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part of until February 1918. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where nearby the Division had fought its first action on 26th April 1915 during the Battle of St. Julien only days after landing on the Continent.