Name
Sidney Butterfield
1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/04/1917
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
13002
Bedfordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CABARET-ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY, SOUCHEZ
XVII. J. 35.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead
Pre War
Sidney Butterfield was born in Hemel Hempstead on 8 April 1889, the son of Frederick and Mary Ann Butterfield and one of ten children, although two died in infancy.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at the Mason's Arms in Hemel Hempstead, where his father was the Beerhouse Keeper.
In May 1897 Sidney and his brother Charles were being educated at Boxmoor School, having transferred from Piccotts End Infants School. He was reported to the Attendance Officer for truancy on 7 October 1898 but remained at the school until he moved again to Hemel Hempstead Boys School which he left in 1902 on completion of his education.
By 1901 the family had moved to Cemetery Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead where his father was working as a General Carrier after he gave up being landlord of the Masons Arms. Sidney and his brother George both assisted their father when they started work. Sidney was listed on the 1911 Census as a "Carman (assisting father)". The family had then moved to 89 Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead.
He married Lily Room in late 1912 at Hemel Hempstead and they had three children, Frederick, Marjorie and Evelyn and they lived at 77 Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead. Sadly Marjorie was under a year old when she died in 1915.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hemel Hempstead in September 1914 and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment, being posted to the 6th (Service) Battalion for training in Aldershot, Andover and Salisbury Plains. He was sent to France on 30 July 1915 on board SS Empress Queen.
Having initially been involved in general trench work and reconnaissance, he saw his first real action during the Somme Offensive in July 1916 at the Battle of Bazentin Ridge, and later at the Battles of Pozieres and Ancre.
Sidney was near Arras in April 1917 when he was in action again at the First Battle of the Scarpe. He was wounded in action on the 13 or 14 April and was taken No. 51 Field Ambulance where he died of his wounds on 16 April 1917. He was initially buried at Blangy Military Cemetery and was 'concentrated' in 1919 to Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £12 and pay owing of £9 16s 3d, She also received a pension of £1 2s 11d a week for herself and her children. She remarried to Thomas Shakespeare in late 1918 in Hemel Hempstead. The name of Sidney is sometimes spelt Sydney.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com
