Name
Sidney Waterton
1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/09/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
19171
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, St Peter's Church Memorial, Berkhamsted, Family grave, Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted
Pre War
Sidney Waterton was born in Islington, London in 1895, the son of Cornelius and Catherine Waterton and one of four children. He was baptised on 14 November 1903 at St Mary's Church, Watford along with younger siblings Leonora and Francis.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 75 Cecil Street, Watford, where his father was working as a gardener, not domestic. They had moved to 87 Shrublands Avenue, Great Berkhamsted, Herts by 1911, at which time 16 year old Sidney was working as a grocer's assistant. Sidney's father Cornelius died on 19 October 1915, aged 52.
His mother later lived at 47 Kitsbury Road, Berkhamsted (pension records).
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Berkhamsted and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment, serving with the 7th Battalion in France from 26 July 1915, when they arrived at Boulogne sur Mer. They were then marched to Ostronove Rest Camp. In early August they practiced musketry rapid fire and loading as well as bombing practice and were digging trenches. It wasn't until early September that they really came under fire near Fricourt and suffered casualties.
Sidney was killed in action on 27 September 1916 during the attack on Thiepval and the Schwaben Redoubt (part of the Battle of the Somme). He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £8 and pay owing of £2 6s 3d. She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, web.archive.org.uk/bedfordregiment.org.uk, www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk
