George Thomson

[Guest Hill 60]

SDGW:

28455 Private Thomson, George

Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)

Born: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

Enlisted: Kilmarnock

Died of Wounds

Formerly: 8421, Gordon Highlanders

[Guest Hill 60]

CWGC:

Name: THOMSON, GEORGE RICHARDSON

Initials: G R

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: Machine Gun Corps

Unit Text: 120th Coy.

Age: 25

Date of Death: 28/12/1916

Service No: 28455

Additional information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. George Thomson, of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

Grave/Memorial Reference: II. J. 7.

Cemetery: GROVE TOWN CEMETERY, MEAULTE

[christine liava'a]

Meaulte is a village a little south of Albert. Leave Albert by heading south-east on the D329 in the direction of Meaulte. Go through the village of Meulte in the direction of Bray-sur-Somme. After leaving Meulte, 2.5 kilometres down the road turn right towards Etinehem (C6) heading south. The first CWGC signpost is at this turn off. Follow the C6 for 0.8 kilometres and then follow the second CWGC signpost indicating a right turn down a dirt track. Carry straight on down the dirt track for 0.4 kilometres and Grove Town British Cemetery is on the left hand side of this track.

Historical Information: In September 1916, the 34th and 2/2nd London Casualty Clearing Stations were established at this point, known to the troops as Grove Town, to deal with casualties from the Somme battlefields. They were moved in April 1917 and, except for a few burials in August and September 1918, the cemetery was closed. Grove Town Cemetery contains 1,392 First World War burials. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

No. of Identified Casualties: 1391

Note; no of burials 1392

no of identified casualties 1391

[christine liava'a]

Kilmarnock War Memorial

here

[Guest Hill 60]

Some details on George Richardson Thomson:

Born: January 5th 1892 at 04:30hrs.

Place of Birth: 5 Mill Road, Kilmarnock

Birth Registered: January 22nd 1892

Father: George Thomson - House Painter/Journeyman

Mother: Jane Thomson (maiden surname - Richardson)

Date of parents' marriage: October 1887 at Kilmarnock

Siblings:

Janet

Barbara

John

Alexandra

[Guest Hill 60]

George's parents' marriage:

George Thomson & Jane Clow Richardson

Married on 28th October 1887 at 36 St. Andrew's Street, Kilmarnock.

From what I can decipher from the Registrar's (James Rose) handwritting, the marriage was in a Free Church.

[christine liava'a]

Lee, How did you get that info? Was it on that Scottish website whose name I have forgotten?

[Guest Pete Wood]

This was a puzzler, but I think I’m getting somewhere. However, I do need some help from people more knowledgeable than me to confirm my theories – or give a better answer…..

Machine Gun companies were attached to their respective brigades. A quick check on the Long, Long Trail confirmed that 120 Brigade was part of 40 Division.

The order of battle for 40 Division is:

120th Brigade

11th (Service) Bn , the King's Own (joined August 1915, disbanded February 1918)

2nd Bn, the Royal Scots Fusiliers (joined April 1918, left April 1918)

10th (Service) Bn, the King's Own Scottish Borderers (joined June 1918)

13th (Service) Bn, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) (joined September 1915, left February 1916)

13th (Service) Bn (Wandsworth), the East Surreys (joined February 1916, left February 1918)

12th (Service) Bn, the South Lancashire (joined January 1916, absorbed by 11th King's Own March 1916)

15th (Service) Bn, the KOYLI(joined June 1918)

10/11th (Service) Bn, the Highland Light Infantry (joined February 1918, left as a cadre June 1918)

14th (Service) Bn, the Highland Light Infantry (joined September 1915, left as a cadre June 1918)

11th (Service) Bn, the Cameron Highlanders (joined as 6th Garrison Guard Bn June 1918)

14th (Service) Bn, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (joined February 1916, left April 1918)

120th Brigade Machine Gun Company (joined 19 June 1916, moved into 40 MG Bn March 1918)

120th Trench Mortar Battery (joined 8 June 1916)

I then entered each of the above regiments, on the SDGW CD Rom, to see if there were any casualties for a few weeks before the death of our man, on the 28.12.16.

The 10/11 HLI took a lot of casualties from the 19-22 December. So it was possible that our man died as a result of action with (attached to) this regiment. But as our man is buried in a cemetery that was near a CCS, this usually signified that he died within a short period of arriving there. So I looked at all the other regiments in the Division, looking for signs of action nearer the date in question.

Eventually I found two casualties (both Londoners) with the 13 East Surrey Regiment on the 27/28 December, which seem much more likely to be connected with the death of George Thomson.

Pte Herbert Bell DoW 27.12.16

Pte Frederick John Forster KiA 28.12.16

The interesting thing about these two men, according to the CWGC and SDGW, is that Bell (middle name Cyril), who was just 17 years of age, is also listed by his secondary unit - Royal Engineers attached(?) to 120 Bde. I wonder what Bell was doing…..?? Was a machine gun group helping/protecting him on the night of the 27th December….??

Strange, but I can’t find 6845 Pte Forster on CWGC……. Was he an Engineer also..??

A machine gun section is formed of a few men, so I decided to look at the SDGW and see if there were any more casualties from this period. Now the annoying thing about the MGC, is that it doesn’t tell you on the SDGW CD Rom which brigade a man is attached to when he was killed (died). So it means having to cross-reference each name on the CWGC.

But I struck lucky with the following:

Name: BRUCE

Initials: S

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: Machine Gun Corps (Inf)

Unit Text: 120th Bn.

Date of Death: 28/12/1916

Service No: 25742

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: III. B. 39.

Cemetery: PERONNE ROAD CEMETERY, MARICOURT

From SDGW

Forename: Sidney

Born Ketley

Enlisted Walsall

Formerly 31710 Notts & Derby Regt

So it looks like there is a good chance that Pte Bruce and Pte George Thomson were in the same crew. But Maricourt, where Bruce is buried, is a bit of a distance away from Grove Town (where Thomson is buried). But when you look at the CWGC details about Bruce’s cemetery, we find:

Maricourt was, at the beginning of the Battles of the Somme, 1916, the point of junction of the British and French forces, and within a very short distance of the front line; it was lost in the German advance of March, 1918, and recaptured at the end of the following August. The Cemetery was begun by fighting units and Field Ambulances in the Battles of the Somme, 1916, and used until August, 1917; a few graves were added later in the War, and at the Armistice it consisted of 175 graves which now form almost the whole of Plot I.

Our second man, Sidney Bruce is in Plot III – so his body was moved from later on. It might help us to see where these post-war concentrations come from, as this might ‘tie in’ my suspicion that 120 Bn Machine Gun Corps was fighting with 13 East Surrey Regt.

The following were among the burial grounds from which British graves were removed to Peronne Road Cemetery:-

BRIQUETERIE EAST CEMETERY, MONTAUBAN, on the East side of the brick-works between Maricourt and Montauban, containing the graves of 46 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in the latter half of 1916. CASEMENT TRENCH CEMETERY, MARICOURT, on the West side of the road to the Briqueterie, in which 163 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from South Africa were buried in 1916-1918. FARGNY MILL FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, CURLU, on the North bank of the Somme, in which six soldiers from the United Kingdom and two from Australia were buried in 1916-1918. LA COTE MILITARY CEMETERY, MARICOURT, a little way West of Peronne Road Cemetery, containing the graves of 38 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Australia who fell in 1916-1917. MARICOURT FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY, on the South side of the village, containing the graves of two soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in December, 1916 (is our man, Bruce, one of these??).

TALUS BOISE BRITISH CEMETERY, CARNOY, between Carnoy and Maricourt, at the South end of a long copse. It was used in the latter half of 1916 and (chiefly by the 5th Royal Berks) in August, 1918, and it contained the graves of 175 soldiers from the United Kingdom and five from South Africa.

So what were 13 East Surrey Regt doing on the 27/28 December 1916 – and did they require support from 120 Coy MGC…..??

[Terry Denham]

RTpots

The man you couldn't find on CWGC....

Name: FOSTER

Initials: F J

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: East Surrey Regiment

Unit Text: 13th Bn.

Date of Death: 28/12/1916

Service No: 6845

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: I. B. 20.

Cemetery: BRAY MILITARY CEMETERY

[Guest Pete Wood]

Thanks for that, Terry.

Are you able to confirm which version of his name is correct - Foster/Forster

Okay, this is the first time I have attempted to do this, so I would appreciate some confirmation, please:

According to SDGW, as shown by Lee, our man was previously 8421 Gordon Highlanders. This is quite a small (read low/early) number, isn't it?

I looked at SDGW, under the Gordon Highlanders, and found that men with numbers in the 8000 series were KiA as early as October 1914.

So am I right in assuming that he was entitled to a 1914 Star and was probably in the thick of action, from the start of the war.....??

[Terry Denham]

The original 1925 CWGC register gives the name as FOSTER.

[Guest Hill 60]

Lee, How did you get that info? Was it on that Scottish website whose name I have forgotten?

Christine - Try HERE.

You have to sign-up, and it costs to use the service (about £6 for 30 credits, valid for 48 hours).

[Steve11]

Came across this whilst looking for info about my grandfather who was also in the 120th MGC Coy (Pte George Speer, 25739 - only 3 removed from Pte Bruce, 25742). The war diary for the 120th Coy shows that the 120th Bde relieved the 100th Bde in the line on the 26th Dec. Before this it had been out of the line for 3 weeks training with the rest of the division (40th). On the 28th the diary notes: Four casualties back at Transport - 1 killed 3 wounded - 2 seriously. It's not stated what caused the casualties but the diary and other records show that German shelling here was frequent.

The 120 Coy's entry for the 31st Dec: Another casualty - 1 man in front line seriously wounded in stomach. -Relieved at night by 121 MG Coy. The relief was sent by bus from Maurepas to Camp 17 at Suzanne. Total casualties sick 8 - battle casualties 1 killed, 4 wounded.

The war diary for the 13th Bn East Surrey Regiment shows much the same. Out of the line until the 26th when they relieved the 100 Bde. The only reported casualty is 1 OR wounded.

It seems likely the casualties above were probably caused by German shelling.

Steve