Year of birth: 1890

Place of birth: Bratoft, East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom

Profession: Cowman

Country: England, United Kingdom

Force: British Expeditionary Force

Rank: Private

Service number: 28817

Units:  —  Leicestershire Regiment, 6th Bn.  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 02/10/1917

Place of death: Polygon Wood - Cameron House, Belgium

Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Age: 27

British War Medal Medal

Victory Medal Medal

Private Thomas Bateman Thompson was part of ‘B’ Company, 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, 110th Brigade, 21st Division. His battalion took part in the Battle of Polygon Wood (26 September 1917 – 3 October 1917). The Leicestershire brigade joined the battle on the night of 30 September 1917, when they marched to Polygon Wood. Polygon Wood had been captured by Australian units in the previous days and on that night the brigade took over the newly-won positions in the right half of the Polygon sector. The 8th and 9th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment were in the front (just outside the wood), with the 7th in support and the 6th in reserve. The 6th held positions well back inside the wood. They suffered from several German counter attacks from Cameron Covert and Cameron Copse and from a strongpoint at Joist Farm. The 7th Bn. moved up to the frontline and in the night the 6th Bn. moved up into support. On the 2nd of October the battalion was relieved and moved back to the camp at Scottish Wood (H35.d.6.8.). The war diary states that 4 men were killed and 81 men wounded that day. Private Thomas Bateman Thompson most likely was one of these four men who were killed in the commotion during the night of ½ October 1917. His body was never found.

6 Battalion Leicestershire Regiment. (The National Archives, KEW (TNA), WO 95/2164/1). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14303 Sources used

McCarthy Chris, Passchendaele : The Day-by-Day account, (London, Uniform, 2018), p 106. Sources used

Richardson Matthew, The Tigers : 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th (Service) battalions of the Leicestershire Regiment, (Barnsley, the Pen and Sword Books, 2000), p 190. Sources used

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/827571

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=a7b07fdc-6ea3-4cd5-a171-4e93ffa6bc7b

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4422165