Name
Sidney Edward North
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/09/1918
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Pioneer
237716
Royal Engineers
65th Air Line Section Signals
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
KIRECHKOI-HORTAKOI MILITARY CEMETERY
Grave 154.
Greece
Headstone Inscription
IN LOVE HE LIVED IN LOVE HE DIED MOTHER
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour, St Mathew's Church, Oxhey, Wesleyan Methodist (now Bushey & Oxhey) Church Memorial, Oxhey
Pre War
Born in Watford in 1896 and baptised on 21 October 1904, Sidney Edward North was the elder son of Edward and Mercy Jane (nee Day) North. His parents were married on 16 November 1895 at St Mathew’s Church in Oxhey, Watford. Mercy died, aged 82, in 1956 in the registration district of Hemel Hempstead, Herts.
At the 1901 Census, Sidney was 5 years old and living with his parents and 3 year old brother, William, at 53 Lower Paddock Road, Oxhey. His father was a labourer in a gas factory. His father is 25 years old and working as a labourer in a gas factory and his mother is 27 years old. The birthplaces are given as Winslow in Buckinghamshire for Edward, Hatfield Broad Oak in Essex for Mercy and Bushey in Hertfordshire for both brothers.
At the 1911 Census, the family was still at the same address and Sidney is working as a roundsman for a fishmonger. His father is now working as a gas stoker in a gas company’s works and William is at school. Sidney now also has a sister, Sybil Mercia, who is 5 years old. Her birthplace is Bushey, the same as her brothers. Also present is a 28 year old border, John Chamberlain, who is working as a gardener for a florist. He was born in Fiskerton in Nottinghamshire.
Wartime Service
Sidney enlisted in Bedford and served in the Balkan theatre of war as Pioneer 237716 in the 65th Air Line Section of the Royal Engineers. He completed valuable work with the unit until the cessation of hostilities, but subsequently contracted fever and died, aged 22, on 30 September 1918 at Salonika. He was entitled to the Victory and British War medals.
He is buried in grave 154 at the Kirechkoi-Hortakoi Military Cemetery in Greece. The inscription on his headstone reads: “IN LOVE HE LIVED IN LOVE HE DIED MOTHER”. He is also commemorated on the memorials at St Matthew’s Church, Oxhey and at Bushey & Oxhey Methodist Church.
There is a death announcement for Sidney in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 2 November 1918, and an In Memoriam in the issue dated 4 October 1919.
He has a joint pension card with his brother William, who served with the Suffolk Regiment and died on 2 April 1918, which names his mother as the dependant.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk) Paul Johnson
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk) Paul Johnson
