| That photo
gave me some headache to begin with ; its back is pencilled "Captain
Thompson, 7th Dragoon Guards". Well this gentleman is
obviously not wearing the Dragoon Guards uniform - he's a Hussar.
From his wearing the Egypt Medal and Khedive Star I surmised that
he had belonged to one of the Line Hussars regiments engaged in
Egypt - and later changed regiments to find himself a Dragoon
Guard. That search gave...nothing. Until by chance I had a look at
some early 7th Dragoon Guards list and found him all right ! I
wondered if he'd been changing regiments back and forth - until it
occured to me that he had been detached as an adjutant to the
Dorset Yeomanry.
Here are
some details on Captain Thompson's life and service :
Charles William Thompson (1859-1940), Major General
-
Born November 24 1859
- January 27 1882 : gazetted Lieutenant, 7th dragoon Guards,
(from the 3d battalion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers)
- Egypt 1882 :
He sailed from Southampton with the Left Wing of the 7th Dragoon
Guards aboard the National Line steamship Italy on August 7 1882,
stopping over at Malta on August 15 on the way.
He was present at the action of Kassassin and the Battle of
Tel-el-Kebir (Medal and Clasp).
He left Alexandria on February 24 1883 on board the hired transport
Assyrian Monarch, disembarking at Portsmouth (for Shorncliffe) on
March 13 inst. along five troops of the 7th Dragoon Guards.
He was presented to the Prince of Wales "on return from active
service" at the Levée held at St.James's Palace on April 23
1883, by his father.
- Musketry Instructor's
Certificate (School of Musketry, Hythe, Kent), 1883
- Sailed for Bombay with the Regiment from Portsmouth on board the
Indian Troopship Jumna on December 29 1883
- Adjutant, 7th dragoon Guards, 1886-1888
- Captain, 9 march 1887
-
Adjutant, Dorset Yeomanry, 1888
- Married Rose Offley Ada in 1889
- Passed for promotion at the examination held in May 1892 at
Portsmouth
- Completed his appointment as Adjutant to the Portsmouth Yeomanry
Brigade (Hampshire and Dorset ) on November 10 1893
- February 20 1894 : publication of the "Records of the Dorset
Yeomanry (Queen's Own)" compiled by C.W.Thompson
- October 1896 : selected by the Commander in Chief for admission at
the Staff College
- Major, 7th Dragoon Guards, 21 march 1897
- December 1899 : proceeded to South Africa (from Australia) for
employment on remount duties
- May 1900 : rejoined the 7th Dragoon Guards as Second-in-Command ;
he participated in the operations preceding the occupation of
Johannesbourg and Pretoria, and in the Battle of Diamond Hill in
June. Later in the year he saw more service in the Eastern
Transvaal, then in Cape Colony, on the Zululand frontier of Natal,
and in the Orange River Colony until the end of the war in May 1902
(Queen's South
Africa medal with the four clasps Johannesburg,
Diamond
Hill,Cape Colony,Orange Free State)
- DSO 27 September 1901
-
August 1 1902 : left Cape Town for England on board the steamship
Orissa
-
Mentioned in the September 04 1901 despatch by Earl Roberts
- Brevet Lieutenant Colonel 31 october 1902
- Lieutenant Colonel 24 march 1903, commanding the 7th Dragoon
Guards
- Brevet Colonel 8 december 1905
- Placed on half pay 18 march 1907
- May 1908 : appointed at Chester as General Staff Officer, 1st
Grade, Western Command
- Aappointed to the War Office as Assistant Adjutant-General in
September 1911, the year in which he was created C.B.
- Commander, Cape of Good Hope District, South Africa 1913-1914,
with the temporary rank of Brigadier-General
- General Officer commanding South Africa 1914
- General Officer commanding West Africa 1917
- Appointed Colonel, West African Regiment, October 1919, when he
retired from the Army
- Co-author of "Seventh (Princess
Royal's) Dragoon Guards : the history of the regiment (1688-1882)"
and "With the regiment in South Africa (1900-1902)"
"C.E.
Fry and Sons" were active in the 7, Gloucester Terrace studio
from August 1894. That's likely very close to the date of the
photo as Captain Thompson went back to his regiment by that time.
Charles
William Thompson is not to be mistaken for his father... Charles
William Thompson (1815-1896), who long served with the 14th Light
Dragoons (including the 1848-9 Sikh war) before exchanging into the
7th Dragoon Guards - a regiment he will command (some kind of family
tradition...) for some 10 years until 1867. C.W. Thompson (senior)
was appointed Colonel of the 14th Hussars in 1882.
Charles
William Thompson (junior) is wearing the dark blue jacket of the Dorset Yeomanry ; cuffs and
collar are scarlet, all lace is silver. The regiment was first raised May
3rd 1794, as a volunteer corps of "Dorset Rangers",
being the fourth corps of Yeomanry, disbanded 1802, and re-raised
1803. On the declaration of peace in 1814, the corps was again
disbanded. Not only did the men of the Dorset Rangers clothe and
horse themselves, but they refused any subscription from the
county to assist them. In 1830 the regiment was re-formed once
more, and in 1833 acted as escort to the princess Victoria. In
1843 the regiment received the title "The Queen's Own
Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry".
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