Sidney Blencowe  [3531]

Killed in Action 3 May 1917

1882-1917

Father Nm: Michael Blenco [1955] born 11.2.1857 Weston on the Green Oxon buried 29.4.1916 Souldern : Oldest known ancestor – Thomas Blencowe c. 1475 Marston St Lawrence.

Mother Nm: [5132] born c 1853 North Aston Oxon buried 8.10.1929 Souldern

Marriage Dt: Dec 1907 Smith Louisa Ruth King’s N. 6c 863.

K comments: Sidney and brother, Austin, migrated to Sydney in 1914 followed by wife Louisa and one son. The family settled in Melbourne Victoria and Sidney was a labourer before enlisting in 1916.

Brother Michael served in the Royal Field Artillery and Army Veterinary Corps.

Spouse Comments: Louisa Ruth Smith. died 1959 in Brighton, Victoria, Australia

Children: Sidney Walter Blencow[4754] born 18.2.1908 Birmingham

(Research): GR[B] Bicester March 1883 prob GR[M] King’s Norton Dec 1907 Transcr Souldern Parish, Register 1891 Census.

Birth 1882

Baptised   31.12.1882 Souldern 

1891 Census Souldern

1. Blencowe Michael Head 34 Ag Lab Shepherd (Employee) Oxfordshire – Weston On The Green
2. Blencowe Sarah Wife 36 Oxfordshire – North Aston Blencowe Sidney Son 8 Scholar Oxfordshire – Souldern
3. Blencowe Thomas Son 6 Scholar Oxfordshire – Souldern
4. Blencowe Austen Son 3 Oxfordshire – Souldern

1901 Census Edgbaston

1. Blencowe Sidney Boarder Greengrocers Porter M 1882 Souldern 19 Edgbaston Warwickshire

1911 Census Kings Norton Worcestershire

1. Blencowe Louisa Ruth Wife F 1886 Birmingham 25
2. Blencowe Sidney Walter Son M 1908 Birmingham 3
3. Blencowe Sidney Head Greengrocer M 1883 Souldern 28

1914 Migrated To Sydney, Australia

In 1914 in Sydney before moving to Melbourne where Louisa and Sidney Jr joined them in 1915. They were living in East Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria where Sidney worked as a labourer before enlisting in May 1916.

Online War Photo Album	AIF 23rd Battalion.

WW1

Blencowe Sidney, 1882, Bicester, Private, 5553, Australian Infantry 23^rd Bn.

Synopsis

Sidney emigrated to Australia in 1914 and his wife and son joined him in in1915 but their time together in their new country was to be very short in September 1916  he was saying goodbye forever to his family. His time at the front was just 26 days before a bullet in the head likely brought his life to a sudden end and hopefully without too much suffering on his behalf.

1916

• 1^st May. Enlisted at Melbourne. Joined the 15^th Reinforcements 23^rd Battalion.

  

• 25^th Sept. Embarked from Port Melbourne on the Troopship Shropshire. Disembarked Plymouth 11 November.
• 12^th Dec. Sick with Influenza and admitted to military hospital Plymouth discharged hospital. 21^st Dec 1916

1917

• 3^rd  Feb. In training, till 3 Feb 1917 then embarked to France 4^th Feb. 1917.
• 7^th Apr. Noreil-Longatte Rd. Sidney joined fighting unit 23^rd Bn. in the field. “A long trail back from the scene of action entitled us to two days’ rest underground, then back through Le Sars, Martinpuich, Mametz Wood, to Becourt, for a snowy Easter. Our numbers were here swelled by some N.S.W. reinforcements, and a hurried departure was ordered to Birdwood Trench in serious preparation for the big spring event (Bullecourt). “¹
• 3^rd May. Killed in action, Second Battle of Bullecourt.

• The 23rd Bn. attacked the German trenches at Bullecourt crossing MG swept areas to reach first and second-line German trenches and then repulsed three Enemy counter-attacks. The Bn. held onto the captured positions in the Hindenburg Line until the afternoon of 4th May when they were relieved by the 3rd Bn.AIF.⁴
• The Casualties including Sidney reported in WD;
  KIA 39
  Wounded 239
  Wounded and Missing 5
  Missing 79
  CWGC reports 111 men were killed between 3-4th May.
• The Australian Red Cross files contain statements from an L/Cpl Hanbury an eye-witness to Sidney’s death. Additionally, Corporal A D Hutchinson witnessed the incident. Note: The first day of the second battle of Bullecourt, two weeks of bitter trench fighting which eventually, and at the cost of 2,250 Australian casualties, cleared and held part of the Hindenburg Line.

From the history of the 23^rd  “This, toughest of all propositions since Pozieres, was tackled on May 3^rd, the 6^th Brigade forming the centre pivot, with a British Division on our left, and the 5^th Brigade on the right flank. It was there the Battalion distinguished itself by its dash and determination to break the famous Seigfried line. The feat was accomplished, and for a time the boys hung on to the position with a tenacity that neither our severe losses, the enemy’s artillery or infantry could break. The work of the officers and men throughout was splendid, and the behaviour of the reinforcements, who had joined up the day previous, showed they were made of good material. To many it was their first and last fight. ” See 23^rd Bn. report for the 3^rd of May.

On 15^th May the Australians fought off a final German counter-attack and the enemy decided to leave this piece of the Hindenburg Line to Australia. One Australian historian described the fighting at Bullecourt as the taking of a small, tactically useless village at a cost of more than 7,000 Australian casualties.

 

Sources

1. 23^rd Battalion War Diary.
2. AIF in France
3. Volume IV – The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1917
4. Bullecourt 1917: Breaching the Hindenburg Line by Paul Kendall

Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France.

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground (‘Hill 104’) behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial 98.

Medals

Awarded the 1914-15 Star British War Medal, Victory Medal.

In about 1921-22 Louisa would have received a Memorial Plaque and Scroll from the King and this would have been inscribed with her name as next of kin.

Louisa Blencowe would have received a War Widows pension of 1 Pound 10s per week.

After the War

1917-20

When Sidney died in 1917  Louisa would have been given a meagre War Widows pension which even though it included an allowance for Sydney Walter would have been hard to live on. It appears that Louisa and Sidney W returned to the family in England. But in 1919 the Australian Government granted a war service home grant that widows of soldiers could avail themselves of.

Louisa heard of this and in 1920 she and Sidney Walter returned to Melbourne so that she could pursue a War Service Home grant which this newspaper article describes.

It is not known if Louisa Blencowe achieved this grant and a home to settle in but one hopes this was the case. In any event son Sidney didn’t marry and lived with his mother until she died in 1959

GALLERY