Sydney Bone ….. a story linking Withington with Salford and the Great War

I doubt we will ever be able to identify which of these men of the 5th Platoon of B Company, the 22nd Manchester’s is young Sidney Bone.

5th Platoon, B Company Seventh City Battalion

I know he will have been roughly 20 years old when the picture was taken, and he will have enlisted in late November 1914 in the Seventh City Battalion which was one of the Manchester Pals Regiments.

He lived on Hill Street in Withington and three years earlier gave his occupation as an office boy in a Bleach Works.

Now there were quite a few bleach works with offices in the city and the chances of identifying which one he worked for is slim.

Bronze Plaque, Private Sidney Bone, 1919

But I have seen Private Bone’s bronze Memorial plaque, which was one of 1,355,000 issued to commemorate those men and women who died of their wounds during the conflict.  It measures 122mm in diameter and depicts an image of Britannia holding a trident and standing beside a lion.  

Two dolphins swim around Britannia and a second lion appears at the bottom.

Each plaque carried the name of the dead servicemen, omitting any reference to rank, and with the inscription “He died for Freedom and Honour” which was changed to “She died for Freedom and Honour" for the 600 issued to commemorate women.

In all 1, 355,000 were made and they continued to be made into the 1930s.

And this is the clue that all did not go well for Private Bone.  The records show that he was discharged from the army on October 12th, 1917, and died in Broughton House of his wounds on November 2nd, 1920.

Just what those wounds were is impossible at this point to know, but Broughton House had been opened in 1916 to care for disabled servicemen who “through paralysis, wounds and amputations will never be able to follow any trade or occupation.  They must receive special care and constant attention which could not always be provided in their own home.  Most of these men will be entirely dependent on the ministrations of others, even more so than the ordinary home for incurables”*

It was hoped to be one of a number of homes for  “totally disabled soldiers and sailors belonging to the industrial districts of Lancashire and to be known as the East Lancashire Disabled Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Homes”.*

Broughton House, 1894

In response to an appeal made in Manchester in the September of 1916 a sum of £28,400 had been obtained towards the £100, 000 required, with plans for a series of Flag Days In December of that year to raise more money as well as an appeal through the churches..**

Broughton House was in Park Lane, Broughton Park and was set in 2½ acres of gardens. It was the former  home of the Sutton family, and consisted of 24 rooms along with extensive cellars.

It still exists today, continuing the work it began over a century ago evolving into “a dedicated charity and nursing home for veterans living their remaining years amongst friends and a team committed to serving all those who served us”.***

And that I thought was pretty much all there was, other than to record that Private Bone is buried in St Paul’s Church on Wilmlsow Road, along with three other servicemen.

Private Sidney Bone, 2020

But then I decided to ask Daniel Daly who lives in Withington to visit the church yard and locate and photograph the grave.

This he did adding that he "searched one side of the cemetery near St Paul's School, on the south east side of the Graveyard, and then started searching the north east side and sure enough there he was.

I cleared the foliage away from the grave and that of the air cadet and said a prayer and took photos
the grave headstone which sits against the boundary wall dividing the Rectory from church.

The other Airman is located on the South East back boundary wall in the church yard".

And I have to thank Daniel for turning out on a day when the weather was iffy, and returning with not one but three war graves.

All of which is a fitting end to the story and has brought Private Sidney Bone out of the shadows.

Location; Salford and Withington

Pictures; 5th Platoon of B Company, 7th City Battalion, the 22nd Manchester’s circa 1916 from Manchester City Battalions Book of Honour, 1916, the Bronze plaque of Private S Bone, from the collection of David Harrop, and Broughton House, Broughton Park, 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ and the gravestone of Private Bone, 2020, from the collection of Daniel Daly.

*Disabled Soldiers Progress of the East Lancashire Scheme, the Manchester Guardian, October 20, 1916

** Disabled Soldiers Homes for East Lancashire Men A Beginning at Broughton, Manchester Guardian October 12th, 1916

***Broughton House, https://www.broughtonhouse.com/about-us/

Stories of the Manchester Pals ..........

Now I am rereading Manchester Pals by Michael Steadman, which is a detailed account of the formation of the Manchester Pals battalions.*

James Callahan of the 8th City Battalion

In just a short few months from August into November 1914, the city raised eight Pals battalions.

The idea was rooted in the belief that men would more readily join up if they could remain with their work companions or the friends they had grown up with.

As a recruitment plan it worked, but in the carnage that followed the great battles of 1916 and 1917 on the Western Front it proved a disaster for small tight knit communities, which experienced the loss of so many young men in the space of a few months.

But in the euphoria following the declaration of war that grim outcome was unforeseen by those who flocked to “join the colours”.

Men like William Eric Lunt from Chorlton who enlisted in the September of 1914 aged 19 and was posted to the 8th Battalion and my friend Joe’s dad who served in the same unit, as well Private Sidney Bone of Withington who was badly wounded on the first day of the Somme, and died aged just 24 in 1920.**

Bit by bit their stories are coming out of the shadows, and Mr. Stedman’s book offers up a context to their service.

An embroidered silk postcard, circa 1914-18

Along with a detailed description of the experiences of each of the battalions, he describes the city on the eve of this great conflict, along with how those who enlisted and survived made their way in the years of peace that followed the end of the war.

Now a full century and a bit after the outbreak of the Great War when all the combatants have died, it is easy to treat them as just a piece of history.  And leafing through the books and photographs they appear as either eager young men in ill fitting uniforms or frail individuals relying on walking sticks or wheelchairs.

But that is to forget that for most of those who came back, they had a full life ahead, and those war time experiences were but a short interruption to a life of gainful employment and raising a family.

It is sobering to think that when I was born my grandfather who served on the Western Front was just 53, his brothers were only a tad older, and my two uncles who were both in the Black Watch, were even younger.

I remember all of them as vital, energetic, and amusing men, who had long lives ahead of them but never spoke of their war service.

All of which makes Mr. Stedman’s book such an important contribution to our understanding of what those members of my family and thousands of others went through.

 Pictures; cover from Manchester Pals, embroidered postcard of the Manchester Regiment from the collection of David Harrop, and Mr. Callaghan courtesy of Joe Callaghan

*Manchester Pals, 16th, 17th, 18th,30th, 21st, 22nd & 23rd Battalions of the Manchester Regiment A History of the Two Manchester Brigades, Michael Stedman, 2004

**James Callaghan, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/James%20Callaghan, William Eric Lunt, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Private%20William%20Eric%20Lunt  Private Sidney Bone of the Great War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Private%20Sidney%20Bone%20of%20the%20Great%20War

Private Sidney Bone of Withington ………… wounded in 1916, and buried in St Paul’s

Yesterday with the help of Kim I came across a bit more of the story of Private Sidney Bone, who lived in Withington, was wounded during the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, and was buried four years later in St Paul’s Church, in Withington.

Private Sidney Bone, 2020

I knew that he had enlisted in the November of 1914  in the 7th City Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, and as such was one of thousands of young men who volunteered in the first few months of the war.

The records show that he was discharged from the army on October 12th, 1917, and died in Broughton House of his wounds on November 2nd, 1920.

Broughton House had been opened in 1916 to care for disabled servicemen who “through paralysis, wounds and amputations will never be able to follow any trade or occupation.  They must receive special care and constant attention which could not always be provided in their own home.  Most of these men will be entirely dependent on the ministrations of others, even more so than the ordinary home for incurables”*

And that was pretty much it, other than he had described himself as an “Office boy for a Bleacher works” in 1911.

But at that time a search of firms connected with the textile industry listed in the Manchester City Battalions Book of Honour, 1916 drew a blank, and I reasoned he might have sustained his injuries at Third Battle of Ypres in 1917.

 Bronze Plaque, Private Sidney Bone, 1919

But his battalion had been transferred to Italy in the November of that year and given the fearsome treatment it had received a year earlier at the Battle of the Somme I rather doubted, their participation at Passchendaele.

Leaving me just to make a not that I should research the war diaries of the battalion.

And as so often happens a fresh bit of the story pooped up in the form of a comment from Kim McMahon-Thompson, who had discovered a newspaper clipping from the  Manchester Evening News Saturday July 15th  1916

"Dangerously wounded by shrapnel Private Sydney Bone of the Manchester Pals is in hospital at Rouen. 

He was employed by Messrs Latham & Wilson, Indian House, Whitworth Street. His parent live in Hill Street, Withington’”.

The news clipping placed Private Bone at the battle of the Somme which had begun in the July of 1916.

Wilson, Latham, & Co, Roll of Honour, 1916

The 7th Battalion were part of the attack on Fricourt, on the first day of fighting and received heavy casualties.

 Of the 796 men engaged on that day, 472 were casualties, and the battalion was withdrawn from the fighting on July 3.**

St Paul's Church, 894

So Private Bone will have received his dangerous shrapnel wounds during those first few days and will have been treated in a field hospital before arriving at Rouen on July 15th.

The same newspaper account offered up one other piece of information which was that  before enlisting in 1914. he had worked for Latham and Wilson.

A search of both the Roll of Honour and the directories revealed that Wilson, Latham and Co, were Merchants located on the First floor of India Houses on Whitworth Street.

I doubt I will ever know how many staff were employed by the firm, but the Roll of Honour records that eleven of them joined up, with five enlisting in the Manchester’s.

In the fullness of time I think I will go looking for all of the ten who left with Private Bone, but for now it is enough to have got a little closer to the young man who died at the young age of 24.



Pictures; gravestone of Private Bone, 2020, from the collection of Daniel Daly, Book of Honour, 1916, the Bronze plaque of Private S Bone, from the collection of David Harrop,Wilson, Latham, and Co Roll of Honour from The Book of Honour, 1916,  and St Paul's Church, Withington, 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

Additional research, Kim McMahon-Thompson

*Disabled Soldiers Progress of the East Lancashire Scheme, the Manchester Guardian, October 20, 1916

**The Twenty Second Service Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, http://www.themanchesters.org/22th%20batt.htm