John Thomson
Australian Army Medical Corps 15th Field Ambulance
Died 13th March 1918 age 34
L/Corpl. J Thomson – Aus. Ex. Force
Lance Corporal John Thomson of the Australian Army Medical Corps 15th Field Ambulance (Service no.1273) was born at West Rumblie, Corse, Coull on 22 March 1883, son of John and Mary Ann Thomson, latterly of Daisy Cottage, Torphins. His father was born in Lumphanan and his mother in Logie Coldstone. In 1901 John, Mary, young John aged 18 and another five siblings, were living at John’s farm at West Rumblie.
By the time of the war, John Thomson was living in Australia. A file exists in the Australian National Archives, providing the sort of information that has mostly been lost for British soldiers when records were destroyed in 1940. These show that, when he joined up on 14 September 1914 at Blackboy Hill, West Australia, he was then unmarried, aged 31 and was a carpenter by trade, having served 5 years of an apprenticeship in Aberdeen. He stated that he had previous military experience in the Foot Guards in London and perhaps on that account was promoted to Lance Corporal on 4 December 1914.
Thomson’s record suggests he embarked from Australia shortly after enlistment. He proceeded to Gallipoli with the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital, was transferred to the allied base at Mudros on Lemnos in August 1915, from there to Alexandria in January 1916, to Tel el Kebir in May, and back to Alexandria in August.
Having survived Gallipoli, the 15th Field Ambulance were then sent to the Western Front. From September of 1916, after a short time at a military camp at Parkhouse on Salisbury Plain, L/Corpl. Thomson served in France with the British Expeditionary Force, spending two periods of leave in England in the summer of 1917 and February 1918. In June 1917 he declined to make a will.
In March 1918, three weeks or so after his return from leave in February, while temporarily attached to the 58thAustralian Infantry, he was killed in action aged 34 on 13 March 1918. The 58th, as part of the 15th Australian Brigade and the 5th Australian Division, had participated in the Battle of Paschendaele between July and November 1917. In March the following year, on the eve of the great German Spring Offensive, they were engaged in operations close to the Somme and Villers-Bretonneux.
The War Diary of the 15th Field Ambulance on 13 March 1918 notes: “Letter received from C.O. 58th Aust. Infantry Battalion advising that Lce. Cpl. J. THOMPSON [sic] Supernumerary to Establishment detached for duty with 58th Battalion as R.A.M.C. detail was killed in action during the afternoon”.
On the same date the diary of the 58th Australian Infantry records a day of heavy shelling and artillery exchanges, resulting in 3 killed and 2 wounded. L/Corpl. Thomson, is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. His effects were posted to his mother at 691 George Street, Aberdeen.
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
1901 Census
National Archives of Australia:
Service record 183813; War Diary of the 15th Field Ambulance AWM4 Subclass 26/58/23 March 1918;
War Diary of the 58th Australian Infantry AWM4 23/75/26 March 1918
Aberdeen City Roll of Honour – gives a date of death 12 March 1918. This is probably wrong in light of the diary entries. Two wounded were recorded on 12 March 1918 but no fatalities.
