Lodewijk Thomson was born in the Netherlands (Lodewijk Willem Johan Karel Thomson), a Dutch major officer for some time, and was a member of the parliament of the Netherlands (1905–1913). In February 1913, he was promoted to colonel and appointed vice president of the Dutch mission for the organization of the gendarmerie of the Albanian state. The mission was created by the decision of the Conference of Ambassadors in London in 1913 and was headed by the Dutch general De Veer. In 1914, Colonel Thomson was commissioned by Prince Vilhelm Vidi as Governor General for South Albania. He had to take over from the occupying Greek authorities the provinces of Korça and Gjirokastra, to pass them under the dependency of the Albanian state administration. However, he fell into the trap of Athens’ maneuvers, which tried to separate South Albania from the rest of the country, with the declaration of “autonomy” there. After that, Prince Vidi removed him from the Governor of South Albania post. He was killed in Durrës, on June 15th, 1914, when he commanded the government forces that protected Prince Vidi from the insurgents of Central Albania. (Pictured: Lwjk Thomson)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2723.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Thomson
Graphic processing: AHCF
