Sydney Henson

Sydney enlisted at Derby on 11 December 1915 at the age of 21 and was immediately put on the Army Reserve. He has mobilised into the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment in March 1916 and after his training moved to 1/7 Battalion in France on 30 July 1916. 1/7 Battalion were part of the 147 Brigade in the 49th Division. On 1 July 1916, the battle of the Somme started when thirteen divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line from north of Gommecourt to Maricourt. Despite a preliminary bombardment lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial attack was a failure. In the following weeks, huge resources of manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At 4.30 in the morning on 3 September 1916, just 5 months after Sidney had joined the Army, he was in a form up position in Thiepval Wood. At 5.10 his Battalion attacked the German positions. The battle raged all day and into the evening with very heavy artillery shells constantly falling on the British. The Battalion casualties for that day were 1 Officer and 15 Other Ranks killed and 3 Officers and 99 Other Ranks wounded. Sidney was almost certainly one of those killed.

Thiepval Memorial Pier and Face 6A and 6B Thanks to John Ludlam for help with this page.