Born:
Died:
Buried:
Address: 17 Jane Street, Saltaire
Parents: James
Spouse:
Siblings: James and Ira
Occupation:
Organisations/clubs:
Military
Rank: Pte
Medals/awards:
Rolls of Honour:
Children:
Regiment: 2nd Duke of Wellington’s
Thompson Chapman
The emotional roller coaster that many families must have suffered was clear from the story of Pte
Thompson Chapman, who was wounded in action and in hospital in Rouen.
His family at 17 Jane Street, Saltaire had already had a letter from him describing how he and a
colleague were in a dug-out that collapsed and while Pte Chapman managed to escape, his
companion was killed.
Now they were getting conflicting messages about his latest condition.
He wrote: ‘Just a line to let you know that I am going on as well as can be expected. I have been
wounded in the right shoulder, left forearm and right eye.
‘I have lost the sight of my eye but the other is all right. I shall be getting sent to England very
soon.’
However, a postcard from a nurse at the hospital said that Chapman’s right eye was “injured”.
No doubt like the family, the reporter thought: ‘From the nurse’s communication it would appear
that all hope of saving the sight of the eye has not been abandoned. We rust that this is the case.’
The Chapman family also had another son, Ira, who was in the navy aboard HMS Ajax.
Based on Shipley Times & Express 30 April 1915 p6
