Rifleman Cecil Sidley

Rifleman Cecil Moore Sidley, “C” Coy, 21st ( Yeoman Rifles ) Battalion, Kings Royal Rifle Corps. He was killed in action near Flers in the attack on “Tea Support” Trench during the Battle of the Somme on 15th September 1916, aged 31. He was the son of the late Rev. J. J. Sidley and Mrs Sidley of Cullercoats, Northumberland and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. ( His name is not on the Branxton Memorial but can be found on the family gravestone in Branxton Churchyard ). 21st K.R.R.C. was raised in September 1915 from volunteers from the farming communities of Northumberland, Yorkshire and Durham. They proceeded to France in May 1916 and fought their first action in the Battle of Flers- Courcelette on 15th September 1916. Incidentally this battle saw the first use of Tanks in the Great War. The  were photographs were taken during and after the Battle.