Sidney George Withers – 60 North Street

In 1911 Sidney was a 12 year old schoolboy living at 60 North Street with James Withers, a wood turner at the Carriage Works, and Mary his wife. Mary was not Sidney’s mother and it is possible that James was not his father either, although he was listed as a son by a former marriage. The family came from King’s Lynn and seem not to have lived in Stamford for very long, although Sidney may have grown up in the town.

In 1901 James was living in Lynn with 3 older children but Sidney was living elsewhere in Lynn with his grandfather, an aunt and uncle. (Family Trees on Ancestry suggest he was the son of James’ brother Edward listed as an uncle in 1901).

When he enlisted in 1916, he had returned to Norfolk. He was 5ft 4½ins tall, had bad teeth and weighed only 7st 10lbs. In 1918, he served 7 months in France in the Labour Corps and as a Cyclist. His Military Records clearly show that he suffered from ill health – as well as a hand wound and suffering effects of shell gas, he had eczema and influenza and was sent to Wharncliffe War Hospital with possible TB.

Sidney was demobilised in March 1919, married and had a daughter in 1926 but he died in 1943 aged 44 years in Holt, Norfolk.