29th July 1916

Lance Corporal Peter Thompson, of Chadwick End, was killed in action on 29th July 1916 serving with the 10th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment). He was born in Chadwick End on 19th October 1886 and baptised at Temple Balsall on 12th December 1886. His parents were William (a labourer from Knowle) and Hannah (née Woodcock, born in Baddesley Clinton). They had married in 1873 and initially seem to have set up home in Birmingham, moving from Bordesley to Harborne between 1878 and 1881. They lived in Chadwick End from at least 1886 until 1911 and had five children of whom two had died by 1911.

Peter appears to have been the couple’s youngest child. The 1901 census shows 14-year-old Peter living with his parents in Chadwick End and working as an engine cleaner. He subsequently became a bricklayer. The Coventry Herald 10th September 1915 included an article regarding Peter’s joining the Army:

ST AUSTIN’S ROLL OF HONOUR – Yet another claimant for insertion in St Austin’s Catholic Church Roll of Honour appears in the September issue of the Church Magazine. Lance-Corpl. Peter Thompson, of the West Riding Regiment, is a native of Chadwick End, a hamlet adjoining Baddesley Clinton, in the parish of Temple Balsall, and was brought up at Baddesley Clinton Catholic Church. Lance-Corpl. Thompson commenced to work as a bricklayer, and ultimately found employment with Messrs E. Smith and Sons, Kenilworth. He spent most of his week-ends at his home at Chadwick End until his marriage in 1908, when he went to live in Henry Street and attended St Austin’s Church regularly. Lance-Corpl. Thompson was usually selected to do the necessary repairs to the church and the presbytery.

Although the article gives his marriage to Alice Poole as 1908, the couple’s entry on the 1911 census indicates that they had been married for under one year. Marriage indexes also indicate that the wedding took place in 1910.

Peter  was killed in action on 29th July and has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial and also locally on memorials at Baddesley Clinton, Chadwick End and Temple Balsall.