Sidney James Luther, born in Surrey, served with the Canadian Army and died back in England aged just 34

I wonder just how much I will find out about Sidney James Luther who was born in Surrey in 1884, fought in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and died at Romford just two and a bit miles away from his birthplace aged just 34.

It started with a picture postcard of Southend-on-Sea, sent on August 8th 1916 to Pte S J Luther, 79251, A Company, 31st Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadians, and C.E.F.

The message on the back was simple enough and told Sidney that “We have just heard H, is in Blighty.  But do not know which hospital.  Hope you are quite well, shall be glad to hear from you soon. Flo & E.”

And much of what I know starts from that postcard.  Flo and Ethel were sisters and H was his brother Harold aged just 22 when he “got a blighty”.

But there is much more which has yet to be revealed.

Sidney left for Canada sometime after 1911 and enlisted in the C.E.F, in the November of 1914 at Calgary, all of which will make it fairly easy to track his life after he left Britain.

He was 5 feet 7 inches tall with a dark complexion, brown hair and grey eyes and gave his occupation as a clerk. He had done three years as a territorial with the 4th Battalion of the East Surrey’s

But and here is the odd thing he lied about his age claiming that he had been born in 1886.
Now the 31st Infantry Brigade had been raised in Alberta in November 1914, shipped to England in May 1915 and arrived in France in September.

They fought at the Somme in 1916 and Passchendaele the following year and at Cambrai in 1918.

The details of the campaign along with the daily routines are available from the War Diaries and so it possible to discover that on the day Sidney may have got his card the weather was “exceptionally fine”, the unit was engaged in training with a staff conference on their redeployment and A company spent the morning being inspected and the afternoon working on the “front line and bathing.”

Now in the fullness of time I think I will go looking for his military records and the exact date of his arrival in Canada.

Unlike the British military records of which over 50% were destroyed in the Second World War his will be available, and the details of his departure from Britain will be listed on the Ancestry Canada.

So there is lots to go for.

In the meantime it is just another example of what can turn up unannounced and unexpected.

I came across the card in the collection of David Harrop which I am using for the book on Manchester and the Great War and by sheer chance this one was amongst the postcards, letters, medals and other memorabilia.**

It would have been easy just to discard it given that it was not about the city, but each of the collection deserves more than a cursory glance.

And so that was how Sidney James came out of the shadows.

I thought at first he might have been a British Home Child, but he was not, and yet his story remains a fascinating one.***

All of which in turn  highlights David’s collection some of which will be appear in two exhibitions David is mounting.****

Picture; from the collection of David Harrop

*War Diary 31st Canadian Battalion 2nd Canadian Division from August 1st to 31st August 1916, http://www.canadaatwar.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=2753

**David Harrop, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/David%20Harrop

***British Home Children, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/British%20Home%20Children

****The Atkinson, Lord Street, Southport from July 28 and Oldham Archives, Union Street, Oldham, from August 4