2nd not 1st: Essex 1899-1914 (6th ed)

In August 1914, aged barely 17, he played four games for the Essex 2nd XI. On debut against Surrey 2nd XI at Leyton, he took 3-30 then with last man Benjamin Stratton batted out the final 20 minutes to save the game for Essex. He also played for Essex Young Amateurs against Surrey Young Amateurs in 1913 and 1914 at The Oval, opening the innings in both matches. Joining the East Lancashire Regiment, Thompson was wounded in France and promoted to Second Lieutenant. He was mentioned in dispatches but killed in action near Basra in Mesopotamia (Iraq) on 6 February 1917. He was commemorated in the Ilford War Memorial Gazette, the Ilford War Memorial Hall, the St Clements Church war memorial panels and in the Basra Memorial Cemetery in Iraq. Batting and fielding record M I NO RUNS AVE 100s 50s CT ST Champ 4 8 1 68 9.71 3 Bowling Balls M R W 5wI 10wM Champ 192 4 98 4 Highest score: 19. Best bowling: 3-30. Tosetti, Douglas (1877-1918) 1 Born 6 July 1877, Bromley, Kent. Died 21 March 1918, St Quentin, France. Played 1899-1903. He was born the son of Max Edward Tosetti and Julia Elizabeth Folks. Max was born in Germany around 1844 and first recorded in England when he married Julia in 1872, so the conflict between his birth and adopted country must have been painful for him. In 1901 Douglas was living with his parents, two sisters and two brothers at West Dene, Charteris Road, Woodford Green, Essex. In November 1898 Max joined Edward Hallowes as a partner in the firm of Samuel Richards & Co which changed its name to Hallowes and Tosetti, Wine Merchants. They traded from 147 Fenchurch Street and their only interest was ‘Dry Monopole’ champagne. After many takeovers and mergers, they became part of Grand Metropolitan which in 1998 merged with Guinness to form a company now called DIAGEO 2 . On the 1911 census the family were at The Hall, Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire, now a Grade 2* listed building. Max Tosetti was described as a wine merchant and Douglas as a clerk working for him. 1 With acknowledgments t o https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org 2 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gkarmstrong/halgen02.htm sourced 17 Mar 2008.