Lt George Masterman Thompson, 1st Bn, Royal Scots

Lieutenant George Masterman Thompson of the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Regiment, was killed in action on the 22nd August 1914. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records:

"Croix de Guerre with Palms (France). Son of Col. George William Thompson, (Commanding Royal Scots), and Mrs G. W. Thompson, of Beechwood, Burley, Hants. The First British Officer killed in action in the war. A Special French Army Order was published on 20th October commending his gallantry and the fine example he gave to the French soldiers temporarily under his command."

Lieutenant Thompson was 24 years old and is the only Commonwealth casualty buried in Wahala Cemetery in modern day Togo (then, Togoland). Again, CWGC:

"The occupation of the German colony of Togoland (now Togo) began on 7 August 1914 when a detachment of the Gold Coast Regiment landed at Lome, supported from the north by French troops. There was fighting at Agbeluvoe and at Khra (or Chra) before the German forces surrendered on 26 August at Amuchu, near Kamina. There is one Commonwealth burial of the First World War in Wahala Cemetery, that of the first British officer killed in action in the war."


At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Officers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission