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Memorial
FOR JOSEPH JOHN BASSETT
THOMPSON
 As Joseph John Bassett Thompson said, "These
are dangerous waters". It was a brave ship indeed that
 navigated
the mines, nets, and enemy vessels. One such was his own
destroyer, HMS Laforey. Right, is a Zeppelin, said
by family tradition to have been brought down by the Laforey.
Veteran of Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank,
the Laforey was on her way home after escorting cargo ships
across to France when she struck a mine on 23rd March 1917. The
damage was catastrophic; the ship broke in half and the stern
sank immediately, followed shortly after by the bow.
Caroline Simmonds was the sister of Elizabeth
Thompson, Joe's wife. She was at work at the communications
depot on the Western Heights of Dover when the messages came in.
"Joe's boat's gone," she tried to tell Elizabeth - but could
not. In the end it was Elizabeth's father who broke the news,
and it took him three attempts to do so.
 Elizabeth's new baby was nearly due. When she heard that her
husband's destroyer was lost she fainted. She came to on her
bed. Twelve days later the baby was born, a little girl.
Elizabeth
named her Irene. Irene had a big brother, Joe. He was nearly
five when his father died, and could just remember him.
Surviving without the breadwinner was hard.
Elizabeth had a poor pension, and the only help that charity
visitors could offer was that Elizabeth should put her children
in a home. This she refused, indignantly. Irene remembers her
mother cooking and darning by candlelight, and at one time
taking a job at the paper mill. There she had to start work
early in the morning. The children had to get up even earlier,
get dressed and ready for school, and then rest on the bed to
try to doze a little more. The neighbour knocked on the wall at
school time, and they would knock back, to say they were awake
and ready to go. Sometimes they were late, and little Joe would
take his sister on the crossbar of his bike. Irene was always
fearful of the wheels becoming trapped in the tramlines.
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Irene in 1917/18 with her sailor doll |
Joe, Irene, and their mother,
Elizabeth, in their grandparents' garden at Salisbury
Road |
Joe and his cousin George. Little
George was also named after his father, who died in 1918
and is buried in Italy. |
Elizabeth kept mementoes of her husband in her wardrobe, in a
little "diddy" box, and,
late at night, would sometimes take them out to look at them.
Elizabeth was never able to see the Dover
Patrol Book of
Remembrance created after the war, where her husband was
remembered. Viewing it cost a
whole shilling, an unaffordable sum for a family living on a
war widow's pension. .
When the Town War Memorial was unveiled in
1924, the head teacher of Irene's school decreed that no one should have
the day off. Irene's mother took her and her brother anyway.
Every Remembrance Sunday they would go to the ceremony at the
Memorial, in memory of their great and tragic loss.
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| plaque on Irene's wall |
Joseph Thompson's name on the
Chatham Naval memorial |
There were memories of happier times.
Here's one of Mrs Thompson's sisters, Laura, on her wedding
day, with her new husband Oliver Mason. Next to her is Mrs
Thompson, and t o
the right of her are her parents, George Henry Simmonds, and
Charlotte Elizabeth Simmonds. Behind them is Joseph
Thompson. Next to him is Caroline Simmonds, who first heard
the news that the "Laforey" was lost. Seated at the
front is little Joe, Mr and Mrs Thompson's son. Left of him
is Daisy Simmonds, wife of George Henry Simmonds, who died
on service in 1918.
The photograph was taken just a few
months before Joe Thompson lost his life in those dangerous
waters of the Dover Straits.
(Exhibition
06)
with thanks to Mrs I Hedgecock and Mrs
C Sedgewick
info on Laforey from Wikipedia
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Mrs
Elizabeth Thompson died peacefully on 17th March 1966, aged 81. Her
ashes were scattered at
Buckland
church, where she and her husband had married over half a century
before.
