"Jim" Stephen James THOMPSON
Born 16 September 1888 in Nhill, Victoria, Australia [16]
Son of James THOMPSON and Elizabeth COUPER [54]
Farmer in Dowerin, Western Australia in 1912 [39: 27-Mar-1912] [50]
Farmer in Coorow, Western Australia in 1913 and 1914 [19] [50]
His brother Lionel Francis Seymour THOMPSON was a farmhand on Turipa Farm in Coorow in 1914 [19]
Farmhand in Dowerin in 1916 [30: item 1835852]
He and eight others who were enlisting were given a farewell at the Agricultural Hall in Dowerin on 27 March 1916 [370: 31-Mar-1916]
Two of the other men farewelled were his brother Lionel and Edmund Y. TAYLOR who later farmed at Yandanooka [19] [370]
Enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) on 4 April 1916 at the Blackboy Hill military camp in the Perth hills [30: item 1835852]
On enlistment he was 5 feet 8½ inches tall, weighed 182 pounds and had blue eyes, light hair and a fair complexion [30]
After training at Blackboy Hill he was appointed on 21 August 1916 to the 20th Reinforcements of the 16th Battalion [30]
He and his brother Lionel embarked from Fremantle for active service abroad on the H.M.A.T. Suffolk A23 on 13 October 1916 [18]
They disembarked in Plymouth, England on 2 December 1916 and after further training proceeded to France on 16 January 1917 [30]
Private 6344 in the Australian Imperial Force's 16th Infantry Battalion in France during the First World War [30]
He was reported missing in France on 11 April 1917 however this was later updated to captured and a Prisoner of War [30]
Both he and his brother had been captured by German forces in Reincourt and were interned in Germany [30]
He managed to get a telegram to a relative or friend in England and asked if he could let his father know they were okay [30]
After almost two years as a Prisoner of War he was repatriated to England on 11 December 1918 [30]
Embarked on his return home on the steamship Khyber and disembarked in Fremantle, Western Australia on 23 May 1919 [30]
Discharged from the Australian Imperial Force on 30 June 1919; received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal [30]
Married Elsie JONES in 1919 [66]
Farmer at Burke's Siding and then Wongamine, both near Northam, and later of Forrest Hill Farm in Maya [39: 31-Oct-1947] [50]
Later resided in the Perth suburb of Middle Swan [2]
Died 30 May 1965; ashes scattered over the garden at the Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth, Western Australia [2]
| Reference: Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Stephen James Thompson' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 16 April 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/stephen-james-thompson [reference list] |
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