Sidley One Name Study

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...

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 shi...

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...