George Thompson (1839-1876)
George Thompson (1839-1876)
1876 Obituary [1]
MR. GEORGE THOMPSON was born at Greenwich on the 26th of March, 1839.
In 1849 he was sent to a school near Stuttgart, which he left in 1862,
continuing his studies at Dr. Knightley’s,
in the
neighbourhood
of
London,
until
1854.
From
1855
to
1857
he
served a
pupilage under Mr. W. L. Arrowsmith, superintendent
of Government works at Malta, and was put
on the engineering
staff
of
the
gas-works
in that
island.
He returned to England
in
1857,
and
soon
afterwards
was
engaged
for one
year as
a
draughts-
man
at the
locomotive
works
of
Messrs. Beyer, Peacock and Co. In
1858
he left
for
South
America,
with the
object
of
allying
himself
with
a
brother who was
occupied
in
mercantile pursuits,
but after
a
time
this
idea was abandoned, and in
September
of
the
same year
he joined
the
staff
of
the
Asuncion and Villa Rica railway in Paraguay, under the late
Mr. George Paddison, M.
Inst.
C.E.,
becoming
in
1862 one
of
the Assistant Engineers to Messrs. Burrell and Valpy, MM. Inst. C.E., the then Engineers in Chief
of that railway. Although
a mere
youth, he was at this time
considered to
be
one
of
the
best
Guarani
scholars,
besides
speaking
fluently
five or
six other
languages.
The war
between
Paraguay
and
the
allied
forces
of
Brazil
and the Argentine and Oriental
Republics
having
broken
out in the latter part
of
1864, Mr.
Thompson,
in
1865,
offered
his
services
as
a
military
engineer
to the
Paraguayan President,
Don
Francisco
S.
Lopez,
and this
offer
being
accepted,
he
joined
the army in the June
of
that
year,
and
took
a
pro-
minent part in the war until the
end
of
1868.
He
chose
many
of
the
positions
and
designed
and
constructed
many
of
the
defences
during
the war, and his
achievements
will always live
in South
American
history, as he held
at
bay the
fleet
of
the
allies for
several
weeks,
whilst in
command
of
a
river battery at Angostura,
a few miles
below
Asuncion.
Although
obliged
to capitulate, the allies
allowed
him
a11
the
honours
of
war, as he
refused
to surrender at
discretion.
The fall of Angostura was virtually the end of the war; Previous to this Mr. Thompson had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant- colonel in the Paraguayan army, and had received from President Lopez the decoration of "Knight of the order of merit"(Caballero del orden del merito). A few months were passed in England in 1869, during which he wrote "The War in Paraguay," a work which gives a very faithful account of the campaign. Mr. Thompson then re- turned to South America and married a Paraguayan lady, who, with three children, survives him. In 1870 he proceeded to Cor- doba, in the Argentine Confederation, where he was appointed President of the Topographical Department, and made and pub- lished a map of the province. He resigned that appointment in September 1871, and subsequently became the Engineer and Manager of the Asuncion and Villa Rica railway in Paraguay, which he gave up about two years ago, but remained in that country to the time of his decease, which took place at Asuncion in March 1876, after a lingering illness.
He was only elected an Associate on the 4th of March, 1873.