WATCH: Walsall Victoria Cross hero who saved his captain from certain death has plaque unveiled in his honour

William James Thompson was serving with The King’s Royal Rifle Corps during the Indian Mutiny when on July 9, 1857, he saved the life of Captain Wilson.

The captain was surrounded by a party of Ghazees, who had made a sudden attack on him.

Noticing the predicament of his officer the Staffordshire-born soldier rushed to his aid, and killed two of the attackers.

It was also mentioned in his citation that his conduct throughout the Siege of Lucknow was conspicuous in its gallantry.

He was wounded during the Siege of Lucknow. He was elected by members of his Regiment for the award.

He was presented with his VC by Queen Victoria at Home Park, Windsor Castle on November 9, 1860.

And yesterday at Walsall Leather Museum there was a ceremony to unveil a new plaque for him. It joins two other plaques at the museum for VC heroes. One for Ordinary Seaman John Henry Carless and another for Royal Naval Reserve Charles Bonner.

A service was held at St. Mary’s The Mount Catholic Primary School in Walsall yesterday morning in recognition of former pupil John Henry Carless.

An Ordinary Seaman for the Royal Navy, Carless was aboard the HMS Caledon on November 17, 1907, during the Battle of Heligoland Bight, when he was mortally wounded in the abdomen.

But he fought on bravely helping other injured men and continued to man his gun position until he collapsed and died.

Carless was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross in June 1918. And yesterday marked 100 years to the day that John Henry Carless was killed.

Precedings then moved to the Walsall Leather Museum for the unveiling of a plaque for William James Thompson.

Mayor of Walsall Marco Longhi led the ceremony. He told the Express & Star: “Members of the Carless family asked me if I wanted to be involved with commemorating 100 years since his death and I said absolutely. The headteacher at St. Mary’s also jumped at it and we had a fantastic commemoration at the school this morning. When Walsall Council found out what I was doing they said why don’t we mark all three Victoria Cross winners, in particular James Thompson who unfortunately became a pauper.

“We were concerned he didn’t have a commemorative stone.

“He is buried at Queen Street Cemetery, although we do not know the specific location, but it would not have been appropriate to have the stone there so we had it here at the leather museum. It is a beautiful thing to commemorate him in this way. Now we have a place to pay our respects to all three Victoria Cross winners from Walsall, which we should be immensely proud of.” He added: “It is incredibly important for us to remember them, especially for the children. That is why I was keen to involve the school.” After the award of his VC Yoxall-born William James Thompson eventually returned to settle in Walsall.

He died there on December 5, 1891, aged 61, and he was buried in an unmarked grave in Queen Street Cemetery. The cemetery is now closed and Thompson’s grave location is unknown. A blue plaque has been placed near the entrance to the closed cemetery. The service at the leather museum was also attended by relatives of the veterans.

Ann Kinsey, great niece of John Henry Carless, said: “When you are a child it is very hard to actually understand what they did. But when you grow up and you have children of your own and you realise he (Carless) was killed six days after his 21st birthday it really hits home.”

l See video of the unveiling at the museum at expressandstar.com