Sydney Thomas Riley

Sydney enlisted in London on 6th December 1915 and was placed into the Army Reserve. He was mobilised on 7th September 1916 and served with the 1/14th Battalion London Regiment (London Scottish). After training he was sent to France on 4th March 1917. He was seen to fall following an explosion while trying to take a German position on 11th May 1917. His body was not recovered. Arras Memorial Bay 10

Sydney Thomas Riley , London Scottish Retford Times 2nd November 1917 Soldier Presumed dead Mrs Riley daughter of Mr and Mrs Geo Highfield , Walesby, Ollerton has received information from the War Office that her husband Pte Sydney Thomas Riley (32 ) of the London Scottish Regiment who has been missing since May 11th last , is now presumed to have been killed in action. Great sympathy is felt with the widow, who is left with two children. The marriage took place at Walesby Church six years ago last April. The deceased joined up on September 7th 1916 and was sent to France March 4th 1917. He was before the war in the employ of Mr Portwine pork butcher, Notting Hill London who in a letter of sympathy to the widow wrote that :- " During my 20 years in business I do not think I have ever met a more straightforward man " Pte and Mrs Riley lived in Paddington and his mother also lives in London. The deceased brother Albert, London Rifles has recently returned to France having been home on leave to be married. The Rev D C Lund C. F in a letter to the widow conveying the information that her husband was wounded in May by the bursting of a shell , stated that he was seen to fall at once and might be a prisoner in German hands. If they did not hear that much was the case he feared that his wound had proved fatal. The reason why the battalion had no definite information was it happened during an attack on the on a German trench on May 11th