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SIDLEY BLOG No 7

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Family weddings The wedding of Pamela Joyce Buchanan, second daughter of Ada Annie Maud and William John Buchanan to Edward Michael Williams, only son of Ellen and William Evan Robert Williams, took place at St Mary’s Church, South Ealing, W5 on 14 January 1940. Notice the traditional guard of honour from the Middlesex Regiment. Edward Williams was a Corporal in 2/8th Middlesex Regiment, the “Die Hards”. Pamela Joyce Buchanan with her uncle George Thomas Edward Sidley at the front of 27 South Ealing Road, South Ealing 14 January 1940. I believe George gave her away at the ceremony instead of her father William John Buchanan. She was the eldest granddaughter of Louisa and George Thomas Sidley of Bognor Regis. The wedding is of Priscilla Bettina Betty Buchanan third daughter of Ada Annie Maud and William John Buchanan to Walter Eugene (Gene) Rosendahl of the United States of America, was solemnised in December 1944 at St Mary’s Church, South E
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SIDLEY BLOG No 5

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An unlikely hero   continued I was sent the following maps from Anthony Stimson, Chairman of the South Australian Boer War Association, after he read Sidley Blog No 3. His great, great uncle Edward Marston published these maps of  Groenkop in the early 1900s in The Times history of the war in South Africa, 1899-1902 . Tweefontein and Groenkop courtesy Anthony Stimson The map shows the tents for the 53rd Company. These were sited opposite the side of the kopje where De Wet’s men surprised the camp on the night of 24/25th December 1901. This could explain why George Sidley survived the raid. There is now a memorial on the top of the hill.   These photos taken by Anthony Stimson in 2013 show the site where the Boers attacked from the right. I believe that the 11th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry returned to Britain on the Troopship Cunard S.S. Aurania after cessation of military actions. The Aurania was allocated the number 20 as one of the ships used for tr
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SIDLEY BLOG No 6

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After the war…back in England On his return home, George Thomas SIDLEY’s wife Louisa quickly became pregnant with another daughter Jessie May who was born on 15 May 1903. She was followed by Walter Stanley born December 1904, and twins Dorothy Louisa and Ethel Georgina who were born in December 1905. The twins died in 1906 before their first birthday and unfortunately Walter died aged two in 1907. In the 1911 census Louisa is recorded having 8 children with 4 deceased and 4 living. Valerie Davidson STRUB, her granddaughter, thought she had 9 children but I cannot find any record of another. Louisa May Chapman Sidley about 1939 George appears in the London, England Electoral Register for 1905 living at 36 Coningsby Road and in 1911 to 1913 living at 12 Coningsby Road. One of the questions I asked in an earlier blog was ‘what prompted George to join the army” and subsequently fight in the Boer War? I may have found the answer….. When George completed his a
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SIDLEY BLOG No 4

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An unlikely hero...interrupted My great grandfather George Thomas Sidley was a soldier in the Boer War. Soldier number 34309, Unit 53 Company (East Kent) 11th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. Today 31 May is the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging which marked the end of the Second South African War or Boer War. It was signed in Pretoria on this day in 1902. See more at www.angloboerwar.com For many years there has been a tradition for a memorial service to be held, about this time, at the South Australian Boer War memorial in Adelaide, South Australia. This memorial was one of the first to be erected to honour Australians who died in the war and was unveiled on 6th June 1904 by Sir George Le Hunte, Governor of South Australia. 6th June was the anniversary of the battle of Graspan in  1901 and this skirmish in the former Orange Free State was the worst day South Australia was to experience in the war with the death of eight soldiers. The unveiling
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SIDLEY BLOG No 3

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An Unlikely Hero - part three Missed the first part of the story? Click here for blogs No 1 and No 2 .  When my great grandfather George Thomas Sidley signed an attestation (in NA WO128) on 25 February 1901, he indicated that at this time he was in the 2nd Middlesex Rifle Volunteers and wanted to join the Duke of Cambridge’s Own. He completed this form at 48 Duke Street and it has caused some confusion. The form clearly states 48 Duke Street but doesn’t say exactly where. The drill hall below is in Duke's Road, Holburn and there appears to be some doubt about a possible location in Duke Street off Oxford Street. I believe it more likely that recruiting would take place in the drill hall pictured below. The former London Middlesex Artists Rifle Volunteers drill hall   The 2nd Middlesex Rifle Volunteers had been in existence since about 1859 but when it came to the Boer War they did not take part, and I believe that these volunteers had to join other regime
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SIDLEY BLOG No 2

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An Unlikely Hero - continued... My great grandfather George Thomas Sidley was born in Ealing, Middlesex, England on 4th March 1878. He was the son of George and Elizabeth (Jones) Sidley and was christened at St. Mary’s Church, Ealing, on 8th November 1878 by the Rev. Alfred Relton.  St Mary's Church, Ealing, Middlesex, England In the 1881 Census George and Elizabeth and family, including 3 year old George Thomas, were living with his maternal grandmother Charlotte (Powell) Sidley at No 7 Church Terrace, South Ealing and they were still there in 1888. Most of the men in the Sidley family were tradesmen of some sort – George Senior was bricklayer and his brother Benjamin was also one, although he later became a general builder. George Thomas was described as a carpenter when he married Louisa May Chapman on 16 May 1897 at St Peter’s Church, Hammersmith.  Their first child Florence Hilda was born just six months later on 22 November 1897, and by then the family wer
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SIDLEY BLOG No 1

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An Unlikely Hero My maternal great grandfather George Thomas Sidley died in Chichester on 3 August 1956. I met him many times when I was a child and my memories of him were of a quiet, small man who smoked a pipe and who had a bristly moustache which tickled when he kissed me. He always wore a waistcoat (sometimes decorated with ash from his pipe) and could waggle his ears without moving his face – an intriguing feat which always entertained me and my two brothers. He was overshadowed by my great grandmother, Louisa, his wife of 59 years.   She was a very strong woman – a martinet.   They didn’t converse much and he spent a lot of time at the Lamb pub on Steyne Street, Bognor Regis about 20 paces from their cottage.   It’s still there.   The Lamb Inn, Steyne Street, B ognor Regis, 2010 Family lore has it that, when George once went into hospital, Louisa pawned all of his clothes as she did not think he would come home. He did! BUT childhood memories were now
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