Edward William Thompson (July 1894 – 6 November 1918) was an English amateur

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who made one appearance in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Personal life

Thompson worked as a putter and stoneman at Emma Colliery,

Ryton Ryton may refer to: Places in England * Ryton, Gloucestershire, a location *Ryton, North Yorkshire *Ryton, Shropshire *Ryton, Tyne and Wear *Ryton, Warwickshire (in Bulkington) *Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire *Great Ryton, Shropshire People ...

. He enlisted as a

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in the Scots Guards in February 1917, during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Two months later, his brother Charlton was killed in

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while serving with the Durham Light Infantry. Thompson was involved in the Battle of the Sambre-Oise Canal on 4 November 1918, and was killed in action while serving with the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards at Bermeries two days later, just five days before the armistice with Germany. He was one of the two last English footballers to die in the war, dying on the same day as George Lake. He was buried in Bermeries Communal Cemetery.

Career statistics

References

1894 births 1918 deaths Military personnel from Northumberland People from Prudhoe Footballers from Northumberland Men's association football fullbacks English men's footballers Spen Black and White F.C. players Fulham F.C. players English Football League players British Army personnel of World War I Scots Guards soldiers British military personnel killed in World War I English miners Burials in Hauts-de-France {{England-footy-defender-1890s-stub