TOPIC:

William Thomson was one of those doubty individuals who kept the town of Ladysmith going during the 3 month long siege. Here is his story:

William Thomson

Private, Ladysmith Town Guard

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasp Defence of Ladysmith

William Thomson was born in Scotland in about 1861. Precisely when it was that he emigrated to South Africa is unknown but he was a resident of Ladysmith in Natal before during and after the Siege which took place from early November 1899 until 28 February 1900.

At the time the Boer War broke out in October 1899 he was already a resident of the town of Ladysmith and was drafted as a member of Ward 3 of the Ladysmith Town Guard with no. 146.

Although they could hardly be described as onerous, the duties of Town Guard members were many and varied and comprised keeping an orderly look out in the town by day and guard duty by night thereby freeing up the besieged troops under Sir George White top focus on the defence against the Boers.

It was a well known fact that the Boers peppered Ladysmith and its inhabitants with shell-fire from their Long Tom gun on almost every day bar Sundays when this deeply religious people would “take a break”

For his efforts as a “Defender”, Thomson was awarded the much coveted Queens South Africa Medal with the Defence of Ladysmith clasp.

To get a glimpse of what Thomson was all about we turn to the 1906 Natal Almanac wherein he is registered as a Driver of Ladysmith. Whether or not this related to the Natal Government Railways or some other form of Driver is open to conjecture.

The 1926 Burgess Roll of Ladysmith has Thomson as a resident of Willis Street in Ladysmith. Here he was the Owner but of no occupation.

Two years later the 1928 Burgess Roll has him listed as an Owner of property on the Newcastle Road.

At some stage he met and married a Free State, girl, Annie Mary Judson, and took up farming, entering into a Mortgage Bond with the Land and Agricultural Bank of South Africa on 6 August 1932. His farm was called Mount Pleasant and still exists today although no longer in the hands of the family.

His wife, sadly, passed away on 6 March 1937 leaving him with two sons.

In his Last Will and Testament, dated 29 August 1941 he bequeathed the Family Bible to his son George Alexander Thomson and the remainder of his estate to his other son, Alfred John Thomson. Had we possession of this Bible today we would be able to answer many questions as to his ancestry and antecedents.

On 20 July 1943 he passed away on his farm at the age of 82 years and 4 months.

He was owed money by the Natal Creamery, H.S. McMaster and the Mealie Industry Control Board. His farm of 436 acres was valued at £1 700.

Rory,

I'm drinking tea and reading about medals so my day is going very well!

Many thanks for this and the pictures too
David

Rory,

Looking at the medal roll, there were two men of this surname.



They are listed in the following publication:





Best wishes
David

Rory,

I see now that my roll for the LTG is wrong as I attributed the surname to the wrong man. 'Guthrie' belongs to 144 Thompson, A G.

I will correct that this evening.

Regards
David

Thanks for clearing that up David.

Regards

Rory

What is that publication? How does it compare to the medal roll?