Years of service 1897 - 1934 Name William Thomson Service/branch British Army Allegiance United Kingdom | Commands held Seaforth Highlanders Died July 23, 1963 Rank Lieutenant general | |
Lieutenant-General Sir William Montgomery Thomson KCMG CB MC (1877-1963) was a senior British Army officer who became military governor of Baku in 1918.
Biography
Born on 2 December 1877, William Thomson was the fourth son of Captain William Thomson of the 78th Highlanders and Alice Broughton. His older brother was Henry Broughton Thomson; Gwyneth Bebb married another brother, Thomas Weldon Thomson. He was educated at Bedford School.
In 1897 he joined the Seaforth Highlanders. He served in Sudan in 1898. During the First World War he commanded the 1st Seaforth Highlanders in France and Mesopotamia between 1915 and 1916, a Brigade between 1916 and 1917, and a Division between 1917 and 1918. Between September 1918 and May 1919 he commanded the North Persian Force and then British forces in the South Caucasus.
On 16 November 1918, in Bandar-e Anzali, Thomson met with Nasib Yusifbeyli, Musa bey Rafiyev and Ahmet Agaoglu, representatives of Musavat, the governing party of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). He outlined his goals as (i) ensuring the evacuation of military units of the Ottoman Army and the ADR from Baku, (ii) preventing Armenian troops from entering Baku, (iii) creating a British administration of local militia, (iv) facilitating the supply of oil from the Baku oilfields for the British, and (v) securing the eastern terminus of the Transcaucasus Railway. He denied that the British would interfere in internal affairs: "The principle of self-determination of peoples decided at the Paris Peace Conference from which Azerbaijan will not be excluded".
General Thompson arrived in Baku the next day with about 2,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army and a detachment of Russian troops commanded by Nikolai Baratov. This was greeted with enthusiasm by the Russians of Baku. One of Thomson's first actions was to order the removal of the flag of the ADR. He also spoke in praise of Russia, declaring "The Allies cannot return home without restoring order in Russia and placing her in a position to again take her proper place among the nations of the world."
Thomson retired for the British Army in 1934. He died on 23 July 1963.