Edward Siddall, 1916
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Edward Siddall, 1916 |
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George's brother, Edward. This photograph was taken whilst Edward was still recieving hospital treatment for wound's he’d recieved during a battle in Thiepval. Edward's war ended when four bullets smashed into his left leg, whilst another four bullets completely severed the sinews in his left hand. For his courage in the field of battle, Edward recieved a 60% war pension for the rest of his life, as he was never again able to regain the full use of his hand. At
the outbreak of
War in 1914, George and his brother, Edward, enlisted together and were
drafted into the Manchester Regiment. In the 'National Roll of the Great War'
I
found the following statement regarding George's brother, Edward. National Roll of the Great War Private
Edward Siddall (Manchester Regiment). Address: 87 Cobden Street, Ancoats,
Manchester. "He volunteered at the outbreak of war in August, 1914, and in
the following year was drafted to the Dardanelle's
, where he saw severe fighting
at Suvla Bay and various other places. He was also stationed for a time at
Mudros in Egypt before being transferred to the Western Front in July 1916, and
there took part in many engagements during the Somme Offensive and was severely
wounded in action at Thiepval in September 1916. He was, for a considerable
period in hospital at Bologna and in England before being invalided from the
Army in July 1917 and holds the 1914-15 Star and the General Service and Victory
Medals." Army No. Z
11106. Grandad
George, on the other hand, had an even more hair-raising time during the Great
War, in trying to avoid the Military Police who kept coming after him each time
he came home on leave without first obtaining permission. One
evening, as Grandad George was sitting at home enjoying a glass of beer
and a cigarette, two large Military Policemen knocked on his front door. This
was one of the few occasions George had been caught unaware, as his normal
practice was to sit by the window keeping a lookout, and at the first sign of
any MPs entering Cobden Street, he would scarper. On this occasion, however,
he'd been caught red-handed. The MPs entered the house and Grandad George had
to admit it was a fair cop. He asked the MPs for permission to 'nip upstairs to
get me shoes', a request to which permission was stupidly granted, because once
upstairs, Grandad George didn't hang about. He was through the back bedroom
window in the blink of an eye, bouncing off the outhouse roof, into the backyard
and off up the back entry where he’d eventually disappear in a large cloud of
dust. This 'hundred mile an hour
dash' was to become a regular feature of George's short Army career, and the
kids and old ladies who frequented this particular back entry soon learned to
dive for cover as George emerged from his back yard like a supersonic rocket
fuelled jet. They never caught Grandad George apparently. He was the 'Billy
Whiz' of Ancoats.
*
*
*
* * On
other occasions, when Grandad George had been allowed home on leave -
officially - and it was time to return, his wife Charlotte, and her mother,
would accompany him to the railway station to see him off.
George would arrive at the gates leading on to the railway platform; kiss
his wife and mother goodbye, and with his kit bag on his back, he would march
off up the platform waving as he went. When he was almost out of sight he would
turn to give a last farewell wave and Charlotte and her mother would tearfully
wave back, not knowing when they would see him again, if ever. After Charlotte
and her mother had turned to make their sad journey home, Grandad George would
carry on marching up the platform - straight past the train he was supposed to
get on and out through the gates at the other end of the station. His marching
stopped only when he arrived at the nearest pub he could find. Later that
evening, as Charlotte was at home getting over the events of the day, she would
hear a fumbled knock at the front door. Charlotte would open the door to find
George completely and utterly leg-less, sprawled out all over his kit bag, which
he'd drunkenly dragged all the way home from the pub. Grandad
George was living at 81 Cobden Street after the war, whilst next door, at number
83, lived George's brother, Edward and family and it would be an understatement
to say that, by this time, for one reason or another, George and Edward didn't
exactly get on very well together. In fact, the truth was they hated each other
and were always fighting in the street, or in each others house. An ongoing feud
existed between the two brothers for all the years they lived in the same
street. After one particular fight, Edward took an axe round to George's house
and proceeded to smash the front door in, which he managed to do quite
successfully, he then retired for the night happy and contented with his
evenings work. I dread to think in what way George got his retribution for the
attack on his front door, but I'll bet it was a long time before Edward thought
about demolishing George's front door again. One
of the few jobs Grandad George had - and he didn't have many if he could help
it - was driving a horse and dray wagon for a brewery. The job entailed
delivering beer barrels to pubs in Ancoats and surrounding areas, and on Saturday's, when he
had finished his morning round of deliveries, George would make a beeline for
his local, leaving the horse and cart standing outside. When his dinnertime
boozing session was finished, he would emerge from the pub to find the horse and
cart had disappeared. Apparently it used to get fed up of waiting for him and
make its own way back to the stables.
Other
times, when Grandad George had secured the horse outside the pub, he and his
pals would enjoy their usual good boozing session, then pile out of the pub, climb onto
the back of George's cart and travel the streets of Ancoats
singing their heads
off. All the popular songs of the day would be
sung; i.e. Carolina Moon, Ramona, Auf Wiedersehen, When Your Smiling, Happy Days
Are Here Again etc, etc,. Another 'hit' song of the day was the
'Laughing Policeman' but I don't think that particular song was in their
repertoire. One morning, when Charlotte had left for work and the coast was clear, George
contacted a furniture dealer and whilst Charlotte was out earning their daily
bread, George busied himself selling all the
furniture in the house. This he did for a very worthy cause - his beer money.
That evening, when Charlotte returned from her days labour, she would open the
living-room door to find a completely empty house - furniture-wise - and the only
thing left in the front room was George,
stretched out on the floor,
blind-drunk. This was to happen again some years later at a different address.
Charlotte
was a catholic, and it was her common practice to visit her local Catholic
Church whenever any of her children were in any kind of trouble - or worse - in
bad health. At the church she would light candles and pray for her child,
which she would obviously have done when three of her children died young. The
demise of our grandparents three youngsters are as follows; John Willie
Siddall was born at 88 Beaumont Street, Beswick, on March 2nd, 1911, and was
baptised at Christ Church on March 15th. He died at 8 Forrest Street, Bradford,
on November 23rd 1915, and was buried at Phillips Park Cemetery. John Siddall
was born at 81 Cobden Street, December 25th, 1919, and was baptised at St.
Philips on January 28th, 1920. He died at 81 Bradford Road, June 27th, 1922.
Annie Siddall was born at 81 Cobden Street on November 7th, 1925, and was
baptised at St. Philips on December 2nd. Annie died at 81 Cobden Street, June
22nd, 1935. |