L.Cpl. Stanley Thompson, 5th CMR, June 12 1917

Lance Corporal James Stanley Thompson  111616





L-R: Harold, Florence, Dela, Stanley, Esther

James Stanley Thompson was born on December 28, 1894, in Smith Township, near Peterborough, Ontario.  His birth records indicate that his father, Richard Henry Thompson was employed as a lumberman and married to Mary Malissa Little.   James was brother to Harold, Elias, Bert and Actor, as well as four sisters.  By 1910, the Thompson family had moved to the village of Warsaw, Ontario, while 16 year-old James was living and working on the farm of George Barr a few miles away in Cottlesloe.

James enlisted with the “Peterborough squad” of the 8^th Canadian Mounted Rifles on March 29, 1915 in Ottawa, Ontario.  He listed his trade as carpenter, and indicated no previous military service.  He was 20 years old, stood 5’3” tall. He had a fair complexion, brown eyes and light hair.  He was Presbyterian and an active member in the Warsaw troop of Boy Scouts.

Thompson went overseas in August 1915 with the 8^th C.M.R, but was later transferred to the 5^th C.M.R. along with a familiar Warsaw boy, his cousin Gordon Carveth.  L. Corp. Thompson would have seen various actions in 1916 such as Mount Sorrel and at the Somme.  Thompson was in action at the attack on Vimy ridge and was gravely wounded there while serving with the 5^th CMR.  His wounds were described as a gunshot wound to the head and left arm.  He was evacuated from the front and made his way to the Royal Surrey Guildford  Hospital in Surrey, England.  He died there on June 12th, 1917, roughly two months after being wounded.  He was buried in (Witley) Milford Cemetery in Surrey, England.  He is commemorated on the Dummer township cenotaph.

Thompson's grave

Sources

Canada. "Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918)." Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4930 - 35. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913. MS 929, reels 1-245. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario.

Library and Archives Canada (LAC); War Graves Registry: Commonwealth War Graves. RG150, 1992-1993/314, Box 39-244; Box: 144.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2004. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1901/index-e.html>. Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels: T-6428 to T-6556.