41753. Private Arthur Stanley Thompson

7th. (Service) Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Born 1898 in Millbrook, Cornwall. Enlisted in Saltash, Cornwall. Killed in Action during the first day of The Battle of Langemarck on Thursday 16th. August 1917, aged 19. Lost Without Trace. No Known Grave. Known unto God. Commemorated on Panels 70-72 of The Tyne Cot Memorial to The Missing, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Son of Joseph and Elizabeth Thompson of 12 St. Andrew Street, Millbrook, Plymouth, Devon. The Battalion was mobilised in Ireland in October 1914, joining the 49th. Brigade, 16th. (Irish) Division, 5th. Army, fighting with distinction in this engagement during The Third Battle of Ypres. 78 of Arthur’s Comrades from the Battalion also Fell on this day, including: 

22981. Lance Corporal William Armstrong M.M.

25582. Private William Fenton M.M.

21108. Sergeant Edward McKernan M.M.

together with the following 3 Officers:

Second Lieutenant O. W. Holmes

Lieutenant Cornwall Nathaniel Brownlow Walker

Lieutenant Norman Hill Woods, 3rd. Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, attached to 7th. (Service) Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

The Battalion History notes:

“At 4.45 a.m. on the 16th. August 1917, the 7th. And 8th. Battalions promptly moved forward to attack the section between the road to Langemarck and Gheluvelt, fortunately escaping the barrage which the enemy put down on our old Front Line. Within an hour the 7th. had captured the German strong point known as “Beck House” and later “Delva Farm”, but had not cleared out all the enemy, who were firing from “Pill-Boxes” in our rear. The 8th. were held up by heavy Machine-Gun fire at “Berry Farm”. About 8.30 a.m. the enemy began a counter-attack and since our troops were “in the air” with both flanks exposed, they fell back to the Front Line, fighting as they went.”

On the 21st. August 1917, Lt.-Col. H. N. Young congratulated the battalion on its achievement:

“You advanced fearlessly against strong opposition as only true Inniskillings can, and captured all your objectives … and hung on there until forced back by overwhelming numbers … You have nobly upheld the honour and traditions of your Battalion and parent Regiment.”

The casualties of these two Battalions of the Inniskillings in the Battle of Langemarck were so severe that they could not be recruited up to strength again and were amalgamated to form the 7th./8th. (Service) Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

IRELAND’S MEMORIAL RECORDS  1914-1918

THOMPSON, ARTHUR STANLEY. Reg. No. 41753. Rank, Private, 7th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers; killed in action, France, August 16, 1917; born Millbrook, Cornwall. P. 146.

Barry Jenkins