People on board

THOMPSON, Albert

Albert Thompson was born in Ipswich, Suffolk in late 1894 to Arthur Thompson and Ellen Barker. He was the third of their surviving six children, two more having died in infancy. Arthur Thompson was a Blacksmith and the family lived in Pottery Street and later Long Street in Ipswich. In the 1911 census Albert, then aged sixteen, was a ‘Hydraulic Presser’, while his sister was a ‘Sewing Machinist’. The eldest son was a General Labourer and the thirteen year old was a ‘Shoemaker’s Errand Boy’. Arthur Thompson died in 1913, aged forty-nine.

It is not known when Albert Thompson enlisted with the Royal Army Medical Corps, but in October 1918 he was with the 1st East Anglian Field Ambulance, attached to the 29th Division. Unfortunately his military records are not available so it is not known where he served or why he was in Ireland. There were eighteen members of the R.A.M.C. on board RMS Leinster on the 10th of October. Fourteen lost their lives in the sinking, including Albert Thompson. His body was recovered however and he was buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery in Dublin.