Lodewijk Thomson
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11 June 1869
Lodewijk Thomson | |
|---|---|
 Thomson in 1905 | |
| Member of the House of Representatives | |
| In office 16 June 1905 – 16 June 1913 | |
| Preceded by | Gerrit Willem Melchers |
| Succeeded by | Pieter Jelles Troelstra |
| Constituency | Leeuwarden |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lodewijk Willem Johan Karel Thomson 11 June 1869 Voorschoten, Netherlands |
| Died | 15 June 1914 (aged 45) |
| Party | Liberal |
| Education | Koninklijke Militaire Academie |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
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| Branch | |
| Service years | 1884–1914 |
| Rank | Major |
| Conflicts |
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| Awards | |
Lodewijk Willem Johan Karel Thomson (11 June 1869 – 15 June 1914) was a Dutch military commander and politician. He served as a member of the Dutch parliament between 1905 and 1913. In 1914, he became the commander of a newly created International Gendarmerie force in the Principality of Albania. He was killed during fighting in the town of Durrës on 15 June 1914, becoming the first Dutch soldier to be killed during a peacekeeping mission.
Lodewijk Thomson was born in Voorschoten on 11 June 1869. His father, Bernard Heidenreich Thomson, was a navy medical officer of British origin, while his mother a member of the noble Pompe van Meerdervoort family.
Thomson studied at a Hogere Burgerschool in Rotterdam.
Political career
In the 1905 general election, Thomson was elected to the Dutch House of Representatives for the constituency of Leeuwarden on a Liberal Union ticket. He was re-elected in the 1909 general election, but lost his seat in the 1913 general election.[1]
Military career
Thomson joined the army in 1884, and studied at the Koninklijke Militaire Academie in Breda, holding the rank of a second lieutenant of the infantry. From 1891, he joined a reconnaissance unit and studied cartography. Between 1894 and 1896, he served in the Dutch colonial forces and took part in the Aceh War, where he was awarded the grade of a Knight 4th class of the Military Order of William. In the following years he published various articles on matters of cartography in military journal.
Between 1899 and 1900 he served as a military attaché in South Africa. In 1903, back in the Netherlands, he was given command of the military administration of railways around The Hague during a rail workers' strike. This earned him another decoration, the Order of Orange-Nassau, and promotion to the rank of captain.[2]
During the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, Thomson again served as a military attaché, this time in Greece. In 1914, now holding the rank of major, he was selected as head of the new International Gendarmerie force which was to work under the command of Dutch officers in Albanian service in a peacekeeping function to stabilize the newly independent Principality of Albania.
