Sidney Thomas Stannard

A Private with the 9th Battalion, Sidney died on 16th of September 1916 at the age of 24. 

Sidney was born at Lowestoft in 1892, a son of Frederick and Fanny Stannard. He was baptised at Saint John’s Church on 16 December 1892 and his family lived at Sain John’s Road. In 1901 their address was Turner’s Cottages, 6 Saint John’s Road. By 1911 they were living at 23 Saint John's Road and Sidney was an errand boy. 

Sidney volunteered and enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft in 1914. He joined the Suffolk Regiment, service number 17752, and was posted to the 9th Battalion. He arrived in France with the battalion on 31 August 1915. 

On 13 September 1916 the 9th Battalion were in trenches near Guinchy on the Somme. At 6.20 a.m. they attacked the German lines and were able to capture two lines of German trenches, however, the enemy artillery and machine-gun fire inflicted heavy casualties. The situation could not be cleared up and so, at 7.30 a.m. A Company made an attack on the German strongpoint known as The Quadrilateral, but they failed to reach their objective due to enemy machine-gun fire. By the end of the day two officers and 15 men had been killed and 10 officers and 185 men wounded. 

On 15 September the Battalion made an attack on the enemy trenches with a final objective between Lesbouchs and Morval. The Battalion were to advance at 7.50 a.m. There was heavy enemy artillery and machine-gun fire and half of C Company could not even leave the trench. The rest of the Battalion were held up by heavy machine-gun fire from The Quadrilateral. There were many casualties, including Lieutenant-Colonel Mack. During the day the Battalion lost four officers and 35 men killed, seven officers and 99 men wounded, and two officers and 93 men missing. 

The Army Register of Soldiers' Effects shows that Sidney was killed in action between 13 and 16 September 1916. But the 9th Battalion war diary states that there were no casualties on 16 September. It was not until January 1917 that Sindey’s family received official notification that he had been killed.