Sidney Ridgwell signature

On this day in 1914, Sidney Charles Ridgwell (sometimes Redgwell) signed up in Kingston, Ontario. He was born in Walthamstow, England on February 9th, 1897 to Charles Redgwell and Alice (née Jaggard). The family (Charles, Alice, their four sons: Beniah, Sidney, Frederick and John and their daughter, Lilly [Lillian]) left Liverpool, England for Canada on the SS Dominion which arrived in Montreal on July 14th, 1907.

Sidney’s attestation paper describes him as of fair complexion, with blue eyes and light hair . He was five feet, two inches tall. He said he was 18 on enlisting when he was really 17 – his medical examination certificate notes that he was ‘fit as driver’. He joined the 22nd Battery of the 6th Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery with the regimental number 85420. Sidney gave his next of kin as his father, Charles, who was living in Deseronto. His service record shows that he served in France with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery from July 1915. In April 1918 he was admitted to hospital suffering from trench fever.

Sidney was sent back to Canada on the SS Carmania in late December, 1918 and was demobilized in Kingston on January 25th, 1919. He is found in the 1921 census as a farmer in Carbon, Alberta. He died in Vancouver on September 8th, 1973.