Thompson worked as a putter and stoneman at Emma Colliery, Ryton. He enlisted as a private in the Scots Guards in February 1917, during the First World War. Two months later, his brother Charlton was killed in France while serving with the Durham Light Infantry. Thompson was involved in the Battle of the Sambre-Oise Canal on 4 November 1918, and was killed in action at Bermeries two days later, just five days before the armistice. He was one of the two last English footballers to die in the war, dying on the same day as George Lake. He was buried in Bermeries Communal Cemetery.