Northumberland At War

Last week we posted a short article about the Ridley family of Park End, Tynedale. Today we will provide some further more information regarding the death of Captain Charles Noel Ridley of the Northumberland Yeomanry,

Charles Noel Ridley married Daphne Bewick in the September Quarter of 1907. By the 1911 census the couple had two daughters Nancy Daphne Ridley aged 2 years and Phyllis Evelyn Ridley who was just 3 months old. At this time the family were living at High Parkanse, Simonburn. Charles was recorded as living on ‘Private Means.’

Charles died of wounds received on 7th October 1915 and is referred to in ‘The History of the Northumberland (Hussars) Yeomanry, 1819 – 1919 with Supplement to 1923’ Edited by Howard Pease M.A., F.S.A. Printed by Constable & Co. Ltd. London 1924. On page 114 of the volume there is the following reference:

September 30th [1915] – Most unfortunately Captain C.N. Ridley was killed, and about fourteen other ranks were wounded, whilst burying about forty men just behind “Gun Trench”.

 

Charles Noel Ridley’s Medal Index Card is available to view on Ancestry.com. This record details that the Regimental Roll shows his ‘Disembarkation Date’ as 5th October 1914. He was killed just a year later on 7th October 1915. His medals were dispatched to Mrs D. Pringle of Doonbrae, Alloway, Ayr, on 20th May 1921.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission confirms that Captain Ridley is buried at Lonuenesse (St Omer) Souvenir Cemetery, France. He was noted as the husband of Daphne Pringle (formerly Ridley), of Knorren, Brampton, Cumberland.

Following Charles Noel’s death Daphne re-married [December Quarter 1918] to Hall G Pringle. A search of the 1911 records that Hall was a Captain in the Royal Artillery aged 34 living in the Royal Military Academy, London Road, Camberley. I could not find Hall on any earlier census except 1881, where I found him living with his family in Cleethaugh, Edgerston, Roxburghshire. His father was David Pringle a Farmer of 6000 acres. Records of Hall Grant Pringle can be found on the internet for example he received the Military Order of Avis 2nd Class from the President of the Portuguese Republic on 10 October 1918, by this time he was known as Lieutenant Colonel Hall Grant, Royal Artillery, D.S.O. [Supplement to London Gazette]. He was also mentioned on 21 March 1896 as a Cadet of The Royal Military Academy promoted to 2nd Lieutenant [London Gazette]. A picture of him can be viewed on www.oldchinahands.org/military whilst he was serving in Peking, China 1900/1901.

This post was prepared by Paul Ternent, Northumberland At War Volunteer Manager.

Amongst the many collections held by Northumberland Archives are records of the Ridley family of Park End, an estate in the Tynedale area of Northumberland. One of our project volunteers has looked at letter books of the estate and has prepared this short blog about the effect the war had on the estate. Throughout our project we will be examining records that look at the impact the First World War had on the home front in Northumberland.
The estate letter books for the war period start in January 1916 [Ref: – NRO 3386/20-24] when John Farbridge took over as Agent. Charles Noel Ridley inherited the estate on the death of his father, John Hilton Ridley, but died from injuries on active duty in France on 7 October 1915 and was succeeded by his younger brother Arthur Hilton Ridley who had been invalided out of the Army.
The letters show the difficulties of running a large estate during the War. There were regulations about everything. They were told how many fields had to be ploughed for crops and how many left grass for cattle and sheep. Permits had to be obtained for selling hay and straw (if caught selling without a permit people were prosecuted and fined), for obtaining spare parts for farm machines, etc.
Men were being called up despite the war effort to grow food and no exemptions allowed. Women were being employed as Land Army Girls and John Farbridge acknowledges their contribution in one letter. A Rat Catcher was employed to deal with a plague of rats eating the bags of oats, etc. before they could be shipped out, but although he killed a few hundred they were still a problem!
The life of the family is illustrated in the letters. Arthur worked at Hawthorn Leslie & Co. Ltd. building ships for the Admiralty. One of his sisters, Mary, worked at the War Information Office.
To be continued next week with the story about Charles Noel Ridley & his wife.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Jean Wilkinson for supplying this article for our Northumberland At War Project.

Part of the criteria for our successful bid with the HLF was that Northumberland At War should use social media websites more. One way of getting our longer stories across was the development of our own blog.

We were contacted by Ted Milburn following our first blog on ‘Northumberland Airship Bases’ by Malcolm Fife. It was at this point that Ted mentioned the story of his grandfather and I thought it would be fantastic to share this with the rest of the world. So here it is:-

My grandfather’s clock…..

…….is a hundred years old. It was presented to my grandmother and grandfather on the day of their wedding, 26 December 1914, and bears the inscription “Presented by the Sergeants of 1st Bn Tyneside Scottish to Coy Sgt Major Dale on the occasion of his marriage”. The glass case below the clock is home to his Tyneside Scottish Cap Badge. Nowadays we do not wind up the clock and set the time. We have stopped it at 7.31 – marking the same time, as on that sunny morning of 1 July 1916, when whistles were blown, and four battalions of the Tyneside Scottish Regiment moved towards the German trenches in Mash Valley on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. It is our little memorial to his life.

Richard Albert Dale had been a police constable in Newcastle for two years before he volunteered to join the Tyneside Scottish in September 1914. He moved from his home in Clones, County Monaghan in 1912 – having completed training as a policeman in Ireland, and it is clear from the speed and enthusiasm with which he enlisted that he was keen to be associated with a regiment which had strong links and loyalties in north east England, his chosen home.

His army number was 20/8 – the “20” related to the 20th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, and the “8” indicated that he was the eighth man to enlist in that regiment. The four battalions of the Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish Regiments were part of the newly created army of Kitchener’s volunteers, but were in reality Northumberland Fusiliers. The regiment recruited locally throughout Tyneside, and notably within Northumberland and County Durham – so Richard Dale was amongst men from Cramlington, Seghill, Morpeth, Ashington as well as those from Tyneside and County Durham. Men flocked to sign on.

Soon the 1st Battalion were moved to Alnwick, along with over 1000 other Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish soldiers. They were housed on the east side of Alnwick Castle where a huge hutted camp had been built in the fields to facilitate training in readiness for their subsequent departure for France. Alnwick camp was their base from January 1915 until January 1916. They marched from Newcastle to Alnwick in snow and biting wind and stayed overnight in Morpeth, in a number of community and church halls. For almost a year in Alnwick they trained in the use of rifles, machine guns, grenades and other weaponry and were tested in marching, drill and the skills required in the laying and cutting of barbed wire and living in trenches. The picture below shows Richard Dale (extreme left) leading group of soldiers through Alnwick streets.

In addition to army training, a social network developed in the camp. In off-duty moments there were inter-regimental competitions in sports and games, and the customary rivalry on the football fields and cricket pitches. There are reports in regimental records of a number of soldiers keeping pets, and like many regiments, some of the units had mascots.

The above picture shows a grouping of regimental colour sergeants and sergeants taken at the Alnwick camp, illustrating behind them the huts to which the lads gave nicknames, such as “Knockout Villa”, “The Crackers Hut” and “The Pig and Whistle”. Richard Dale is at the centre in the back row and he has an owl on his arm – (for which I have no authentic explanation!).

The newly married Elizabeth Dale lived with her retired foster parents John and Isabella Eskdale in Heaton, Newcastle – although they later moved to Edward Street in Morpeth, where Elizabeth rented and ran a little sweetie shop in Newgate Street opposite Wm. Stokers the Butcher. She was well known to local shopkeepers and the schoolchildren of Morpeth throughout her life in the town. Visits to Richard during his year in Alnwick were often and from time to time he was able to get leave to go home. Before long she became pregnant. Amidst the joy, they must have both wrestled with concerns relating to Richard’s imminent departure for France and the uncertainty of the future.

Movement orders arrived in January 1916. The eight Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish Battalions left by train from Alnwick Station and travelled via Salisbury Plain to join the other regiments in 34 Division in Warminster, then forward to embark at Southampton Harbour, for Le Havre, Abbeville, St. Omer, Blendeques and Wardeques. The volunteer soldiers of Northumberland, Durham and Tyneside were on their way to the Somme.

Richard must have been delighted to be granted compassionate leave so that he could briefly return to see his newborn daughter and Elizabeth. Muriel (my mother) was born on 10 February 1916 and this visit by Richard was the only time that he saw her before having to travel back to his regiment which was moving into the Somme region.

The war in France had changed by 1916. At the beginning of hostilities in 1914, WW1 was a war of movement – by the time of the Battle of the Somme, it had changed to being a war of stagnation. Both sides of the conflict were well dug in, facing each other in deep trenches which stretched from Switzerland to Normandy. The 1st Bn Tyneside Scottish were positioned in trenches near Ouvillers, flanked on the left by 2Bn The Middlesex Regiment and on the right by 4th Bn Tyneside Scottish. Whistles blew at 0731hrs and the pipers started to play the “Haughs of Cromdale” – men walked forward, in open countryside, to cross the 800 yards towards the German lines………..

CSM Richard Dale died before 10 o’clock on that morning.

The official casualty rates for the 1Bn Tyneside Scottish for that day indicate 27 officers and 557 men were injured or killed – a total of 584 out of the 800 who had started in the attack. A, 73% casualty rate.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Ted Milburn in supplying this article for the Northumberland At War Project.