Ian Sim has submitted the following:
Our researches have not confirmed that William’s family were living in or around Beadnell at the time of his death on 6th January 1919. However the William we describe is the only man from the 5th Batt. D.L.I. who died on that date in France and who has associations with this area.
William’s parents both came from the Glendale area and the family were all farm workers. In common with most farm workers in those days it was normal practice to change farms regularly, often each year at the May ‘hirings’.
William was born at Ford in 1897. By 1901 the family were living at Lowick and, in 1911 at North Hazelrigg, near Belford. Prior to 1911 William’s father had died and at the time of joining up the family had moved to West Burton, near Bamburgh. William was still living with his mother Jane along with his four brothers and three sisters. William was employed as a ploughman on the farm.
He joined up on the 23rd May 1918 and we know he was serving in France in October of that year. The 5th Battalion was disbanded in September 1918 and the records indicate that William was transferred to the 13th Battalion. He died on the 6th January 1919 and, although we do not know the cause of his death, it is possible he was caught in the so called Spanish flu epidemic raging through Europe immediately after the war. He is buried at the British Cemetery at St. Caudry, Northern France.
William Thompson is remembered at Beadnell on B10.01 and B10.02
He is not remembered in the D.L.I. Book of Remembrance.
