THOMPSON, WALTER DARCY, Private, No. 4843, 2nd Battn. Coldstream Guards, s. of the late John Thompson, engineer: b. Elswick, Newcastle, 1883; educ. Southwick Board School; enlisted at Elswick, 26 Sept. 1902; left with the 1st Expeditionary Force for the Front on the outbreak of war, and was killed in action in France, 16 Sept. 1914. Private Thompson m. at Southwick, 21 Feb. 1906, Martha Alexandra, dau. of Robert Whyte, of Perth, and had two sons and one daughter: Vernon, b. 3 Nov. 1912; Walter Darcy, b. 11 Nov. 1914, and Edna, b. 21 April, 1909. His widow died 12 March, 1915, leaving the three infant children without any known relations. Capt. John Smith, of the Salvation Army at Southwick, took temporary charge of them, and Queen Alexandra hearing of the sad story wrote to Capt. Smith for particulars and expressed herself as anxious to assist in some way. The story was submitted to Her Majesty, and in reply a handsome money gift was sent for each child to be banked in trust for them.
Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1