1 Battalion, The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) (attached Gold Coast Regiment, West African Field Force)

Lt Thompson was the first British officer to be killed in action during the First World War. He was commanding a small force of French Senegalese troops in an action against German forces at Chra, German Togoland, when he was killed, aged 24, on 22 August 1914.

A Special French Army Order was published on 20 October commending his gallantry and he was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palms. Lt Thompson is buried at Wahala Cemetery near Atakpame.

Faces of the First World War

Find out more about this First World War Centenary project at www.1914.org/faces.

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