He had attained the rank of acting captain when placed in charge of troops in the Clermont district during the 1891 Australian shearers' strike.

In 1896 he was one of Queensland's two representatives sent in the Australian contingent to England with other colonial troops to commemorate the 60th year of Queen Victoria's reign.

[2] The Boer War broke out in 1899 and Thompson was placed second in command of the second Queensland contingent to go to South Africa.

He left Rockhampton on Christmas night 1899 after an historic march through the city and a farewell dinner at the School of Arts.

There was no system of reinforcements at the time and wastage of war reduced the strength of the second Queensland to a subaltern's command.

Instead he was put in charge of the largest training camp in Queensland at the Exhibition Grounds, Brisbane.

[1][2] Thompson moved to Sydney, New South Wales, in the 1940s where he died at Petersham on Saturday 7 March 1953.