THOSE REMEMBERED ON THE FALFIELD WAR MEMORIAL WHO DIED DURING THE 1914-18 WAR
THOSE REMEMBERED ON THE FALFIELD WAR MEMORIAL WHO DIED DURING THE 1914-18 WAR
SIDNEY JOSEPH LEWIS
SIDNEY JOSEPH LEWIS
Date Born
Circa 1899
Birth place:
Charfield, Gloucestershire
Date of Death:
13th May 1918
Fate:
Killed in action / Died of wounds
Duty Location:
France and Flanders
Buried:
Aire Communal Cemetery. Plot 2. Row J. No.28.
Location Information
Aire is a town about 14 Kms south-
The Communal Cemetery is 750 metres north of the town, on the road to St. Omer and the four Commonwealth plots are on the east side.
Historical Information
From March 1915 to February 1918, Aire was a busy but peaceful centre used by Commonwealth forces as corps headquarters. The Highland Casualty Clearing Station was based there as was the 39th Stationary Hospital (from May 1917) and other medical units. Plot I contains burials from this period.
The burials in plots II, III and IV (rows A to F) relate to the fighting of 1918, when the 54th Casualty Clearing Station came to Aire and the town was, for a while, within 13 kilometres of the German lines.
The cemetery now contains 894 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and a few French and German war graves. There are also 21 Second War burials, mostly dating from the withdrawal to Dunkirk in May 1940.
The Commonwealth plots were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.
Regiment:
2nd/4th Battalion Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire Regiment)
Rank:
Private
Service No:
202936
Military Information:
Formed: 1881 – Disbanded: 1959
The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales’s) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales’s) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot and the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot.
The regiment was originally formed as The Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Berkshire Regiment), taking the honorific from the 49th Foot (which became the 1st Battalion) and the county affiliation from the 66th Foot (which became the 2nd Battalion). In 1885 it was granted the distinction of a royal title, and became The Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire Regiment); in 1921 the titles switched to become The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales’s)
After service in the First and Second World Wars, it was amalgamated into The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) in 1959
Medals Awarded
The 1914/15 star campaign medal of the British Empire for his service in World War One.
This Star is identical to the 1914 Star in every respect except that the centre scroll bears the dates “1914-
Eligibility for the Victory Medal consisted of having been mobilised, fighting, having served in any of the theatres of operations, or at sea, between midnight 4th/5th August, 1914, and midnight, 11th/12th November, 1918. Women who served in any of the various military organisations in a theatre of operations were also eligible.
The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the 1st World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in silver and 110,000 in bronze, the latter awarded to, among others, the Chinese, Maltese and Indian Labour Corps
The 1914/15 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred. With Pip representing either the 1914/15 Star or the 1914 Star, only one of which could be awarded to a soldier, Squeak represented the British War Medal and Wilfred represented the Victory Medal.
MEMORIAL PLAQUE
The Next of Kin Memorial Plaque is a bronze plaque approximately 11 cms or 4½ inches diameter with the name of someone who died serving with the British and Empire forces in the First World War. This was issued to the Next of Kin of the casualty along with a scroll. They were posted out separately, typically in 1919 and 1920, and a ‘King’s message’ was enclosed with both, containing a facsimile signature of the King.
The immediate next of kin of all who died serving with the British and Empire forces in the First World War were eligible to receive the plaque and scroll. With nearly a million dead for the British Army alone, the plaques are today still commonly found; the fragile scrolls survive less often. Some of those recorded by plaques and scrolls were not eligible for service medals, for instance, those who did not serve overseas but who died in service through accident or illness.
Parents:
William Thomas and Lottie Lewis, of Falfield, Glos.; husband of Lizzie Lewis (nee Poole), of Grovesend, Thornbury, Glos.
Other Information:
Also remembered on the Parish of Clevedon All Saints Roll of Honour
Sidney’s parents William and Lottie Lewis are buried in St George’s churchyard.
The 1901 census records Sidney and his parents were living in Milbury Heath/Buckover Falfield.
The 1911 census Sidney was living with his parents at Whitfield, Falfield. His profession was recorded as a Plasterer and Tiler.
The Banns register for St George’s Church, Falfield record that the banns of marriage between Sidney Joseph Lewis of Falfield and Lizze Poole of Thornbury were read on the 8th, 15th & 22nd June 1913. There is also a marriage index record for the quarter April/June 1913.
Credits: St George’s Church Baptism and Burial Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Ancestry website, forces-
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