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Sidney Greenley

By 1901 Sidney had gone into service and was a footman at 19, Pont Street, Chelsea working for Mr and Mrs Samuelson along with Kate Weller whom he subsequently married. This was a wealthy household boasting a French cook and several other servants.


1901 Census – resident at 19, Pont Street, Chelsea
GREENLEY, Sydney, Servant, Single, M, 19, Footman Domestic, Old Malton, Yorkshire,
WELLER, Kate, Servant, Single, F, 20, House Maid Domestic, Lewis, Suffolk


In the third quarter of 1909 he married Kate Alice Weller in the Paddington area of London, and by 1911 he had risen to butler and moved to Marylebone.


1911 Census – resident at 30 Seymour Buildings Seymour Place, St Marylebone, London
GREENLEY, Sidney, Head, Married 1 year, M, 30, Butler Domestic, Yorks Old Malton,
GREENLEY, Kate Alice, Wife, Married, F, 30, , Sussex Lewes,


 Sometime in 1915, Sidney enlisted at Marylebone in the 1st Battalion of Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) in the 17th brigade which was part of the 6th Division.  On the 10 September 1914 it had landed at St Nazaire and proceeded to the Western Front, where it remained throughout the war. The 6th Division arrived in time to reinforce the hard-pressed BEF on the Aisne, before the whole army was moved north into Flanders.


After the Battle of Loos where the newly-formed 24th Division sustained terrible losses, the 17th Brigade was transferred to the 24th Division in exchange for 71st Brigade on 14 October 1915.  In the course of 1916 they were on the receiving end of the German gas attack at Wulverghem.  Haig reported on this:

 “On the night of the 29th/30th April the enemy carried out a gas attack on a considerable scale near Wulverghem, on a front of 3,500 yards held by the 3rd and 24th Divisions. The operation was opened by heavy rifle and machine-gun fire under cover of which the gas was released.Immediately afterwards a heavy "barrage", or curtain of artillery fire, was placed on three parts of this area, and eight infantry attacks were launched. Of these attacks only two penetrated our trenches; one was immediately repelled, while the other was driven out by a counter-attack after about 40 minutes' occupation.The enemy's object would appear to have been the destruction of mine shafts, as a charge of gun-cotton was found unexploded in a disused shaft, to which the enemy had penetrated. But if this was his object he was completely unsuccessful.”


Arthur Empey’s eyewitness account of a gas attack reads:

 "We had a new man at the periscope, on this afternoon in question; I was sitting on the fire step, cleaning my rifle, when he called out to me: 'There's a sort of greenish, yellow cloud rolling along the ground out in front, it's coming ---' But I waited for no more, grabbing my bayonet, which was detached from the rifle, I gave the alarm by banging an empty shell case, which was hanging near the periscope. At the same instant, gongs started ringing down the trench, the signal for Tommy to don his respirator, or smoke helmet, as we call it.

Gas travels quietly, so you must not lose any time; you generally have about eighteen or twenty seconds in which to adjust your gas helmet. A gas helmet is made of cloth, treated with chemicals. There are two windows, or glass eyes, in it, through which you can see. Inside there is a rubber-covered tube, which goes in the mouth. You breathe through your nose; the gas, passing through the cloth helmet, is neutralized by the action of the chemicals. The foul air is exhaled through the tube in the mouth, this tube being so constructed that it prevents the inhaling of the outside air or gas. One helmet is good for five hours of the strongest gas. Each Tommy carries two of them slung around his shoulder in a waterproof canvas bag. He must wear this bag at all times, even while sleeping. To change a defective helmet, you take out the new one, hold your breath, pull the old one off, placing the new one over your head, tucking in the loose ends under the collar of your tunic.

For a minute, pandemonium reigned in our trench, - Tommies adjusting their helmets, bombers running here and there, and men turning out of the dugouts with fixed bayonets, to man the fire step.

Reinforcements were pouring out of the communication trenches. Our gun's crew was busy mounting the machine gun on the parapet and bringing up extra ammunition from the dugout.

German gas is heavier than air and soon fills the trenches and dugouts, where it has been known to lurk for two or three days, until the air is purified by means of large chemical sprayers. We had to work quickly, as Fritz generally follows the gas with an infantry attack. A company man on our right was too slow in getting on his helmet; he sank to the ground, clutching at his throat, and after a few spasmodic twistings, went West. It was horrible to see him die, but we were powerless to help him. In the corner of a traverse, a little, muddy cur dog, one of the company's pets, was lying dead, with his two paws over his nose.

It's the animals that suffer the most, the horses, mules, cattle, dogs, cats, and rats, they having no helmets to save them. Tommy does not sympathize with rats in a gas attack. At times, gas has been known to travel, with dire results, fifteen miles behind the lines.

A gas, or smoke helmet, as it is called, at the best is a vile-smelling thing, and it is not long before one gets a violent headache from wearing it.

Our eighteen-pounders were bursting in No Man's Land, in an effort, by the artillery, to disperse the gas clouds. The fire step was lined with crouching men, bayonets fixed, and bombs near at hand to repel the expected attack. Our artillery had put a barrage of curtain fire on the German lines, to try and break up their attack and keep back reinforcements. I trained my machine gun on their trench and its bullets were raking the parapet. Then over they came, bayonets glistening. In their respirators, which have a large snout in front, they looked like some horrible nightmare. All along our trench, rifles and machine guns spoke, our shrapnel was bursting over their heads. They went down in heaps, but new ones took the place of the fallen. Nothing could stop that mad rush. The Germans reached our barbed wire, which had previously been demolished by their shells, then it was bomb against bomb, and the devil for all.

Suddenly, my head seemed to burst from a loud 'crack' in my ear. Then my head began to swim, throat got dry, and a heavy pressure on the lungs warned me that my helmet was leaking. Turning my gun over to No. 2, I changed helmets. The trench started to wind like a snake, and sandbags appeared to be floating in the air. The noise was horrible; I sank onto the fire step, needles seemed to be pricking my flesh, then blackness.

I was awakened by one of my mates removing my smoke helmet. How delicious that cool, fresh air felt in my lungs. A strong wind had arisen and dispersed the gas. They told me that I had been 'out' for three hours; they thought I was dead.

 

The attack had been repulsed after a hard fight. Twice the Germans had gained a foothold in our trench, but had been driven out by counter- attacks. The trench was filled with their dead and ours. Through a periscope, I counted eighteen dead Germans in our wire; they were a ghastly sight in their horrible-looking respirators.

I examined my first smoke helmet, a bullet had gone through it on the left side, just grazing my ear, the gas had penetrated through the hole made in the cloth. Out of our crew of six, we lost two killed and two wounded. That night we buried all of the dead, excepting those in No Man's Land. In death there is not much distinction, friend and foe are treated alike. After the wind had dispersed the gas, the R. A. M. C. got busy with their chemical sprayers, spraying out the dugouts and low parts of the trenches to dissipate any fumes of the German gas which may have been lurking in same."

After this the next major engagement the 24th Division was involved in was the Battle of Guillemont This was a British assault on the German-held village of Guillemont which lay on the right flank of the British sector where it linked with French forces and by holding it, the Germans prevented the Allied armies from operating in unison. Guillemont came in range of British forces following the Battle of Bazentin Ridge on 14 July and it was subjected to a number of costly attacks in late July and August. This sector contained a number of German strongpoints — Delville Wood, Falfemont Farm, the villages of Guillemont, Combles and Maurepas — each providing protection for the other.

On 18 August a combined British-French offensive was launched on the sector with three British corps attacking around Guillemont while the French attacked Maurepas. The British managed to seize Guillemont Station but otherwise failed to reach their objectives.  In the course of this offensive Sidney was killed.  His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Ironically, it was on the day of his death that the Malton Messenger published a short item :

PATRIOTIC OLD MALTON FAMILY
Mr Greenley, 11 Westgate, Old Malton, has five sons “doing their bit”. The eldest George is on a transport, Australian & New Zealand service. Pte Sidney Greenley is in the Royal Fusiliers and has been in France a year, once wounded slightly by shrapnel. Pte Fred Greenley is in the 5th Yorkshires and was recently home on furlough. Pte Harold Greenley is in the 5th Yorkshires, training at Redcar and Pte Edward Greenley in the 3rd Yorkshires training at West Hartlepool. A splendid patriotic record.


Sidney is commemorated on the War Memorials in Old MAlton Priory Church and in the Memorial Hall.



Sidney Greenley was born in Old Malton in the second quarter of 1881 and his birth registered in Malton. He was the second son of Francis and Sarah Ann (nee Bulmer) Greenley who married in the Malton area in the third quarter of 1877. He was baptised in St Mary’s Church, Old Malton on 22nd May 1881


In 1891 the Greenleys were living on Town Street (probably at 107), Old Malton and in the photograph above, probably taken about 1898, Sidney is seated at the left of the picture.

 

1891 Census –resident in Town Street, Old Malton
GREENLEY, Francis, Head, Married, M, 33, Tailor, Old Malton Yorkshire,
GREENLEY, Sarah A, Wife, Married, F, 30, , Old Malton Yorkshire,
GREENLEY, Emily, Daughter, , F, 13, , Old Malton Yorkshire,
GREENLEY, George H, Son, , M, 11, Scholar, Old Malton Yorkshire,
GREENLEY, Sidney, Son, , M, 9, Scholar, Old Malton Yorkshire,
GREENLEY, Frederick, Son, , M, 7, Scholar, Old Malton Yorkshire,
GREENLEY, Mary E, Daughter, , F, 5, Scholar, Old Malton Yorkshire,
GREENLEY, Harold, Son, , M, 3, , Old Malton Yorkshire,