Major Charles David Riddel, T.D., R.E.

Major
CHARLES DAVID RIDDEL, T.D.
The East Lancashire Regiment
(formerly Private, The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, 30397 Corporal and later Lieutenant, Royal Engineers)

2nd Lieutenant Charles David Riddel
Royal Engineers, Territorial Force, c. 1915.

The principal references used in the preparation of this narrative were from a number of sources. They include census records, official registries in the United Kingdom, medal rolls, family trees, army lists and the London Gazette. All sources are contained in the REFERENCE section at the end of the narrative and are cited throughout in the ENDNOTES. Every effort has been made to accurately portray the life and military service of Major Riddel based on available information. A request for his service papers was submitted to the Army Personnel Centre (APC) in Glasgow, Scotland in October of 2017. A response was received from the Support Division of the APC indicating that no record of Major Riddel’s service was found in their files.[1] This was most unfortunate as it severely limits the amount of information that could be uncovered regarding the details of his military service.

2. EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION

Charles Robert Riddel (1854-1943), the father of Charles David Riddel, was born in Inverness, Scotland.[2] On the 9^th of October 1879 Charles Robert Riddel married Jessie McGill (1854-1919) at the Caledonia Road United Presbyterian Church in Glasgow, Scotland. They had four daughters and two sons, some of whom are shown in the 1891 census table below. Their son, John Alfred, was born in Gourock, Scotland in 1898. Charles and Jessie appear in the 1891 Census of Scotland as shown in the table below. They were living at the time at 36 Cumberland Street, Gorbals, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland with Jessie’s mother and her four sons.[3]

Figure 1. The Caledonia United Presbyterian Church, Glasgow, Scotland.
Table 1. The 1891 Census of Scotland (McGill Family)

The 1871 Census of Scotland shows that Mary McGill’s husband and Jessie’s father was one David McGill, who in 1871 was 41 years old. No information could be found to indicate why David McGill was not present in the household in 1881. He had either died, or was away on business abroad, or he had divorced his wife.

Charles and Jessie continued to have children during the next decade. Their daughter, Christina Hutton Riddel, was born in Blantyre, Lanarkshire in 1882, Jessie McGill Riddel was born in Dunoon, Argyleshire[4] in 1884 and Charlotte Josephine Riddel was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire in 1888. Obviously Charles and Jessie moved around quite a bit in Scotland, probably as a result of his work as a merchant engineer in the textile business.

The family appears in the 1891 Census of Scotland as shown in the table below. Their address at the time was 10 Kenmore Street, Govan, Glasgow, Lanarkshire.[5]

It should be noted that Mary Riddel, shown in the 1881 census, does not appear in the 1891 census for the family of Charles and Jessie Riddle. Mary, whose full name was Mary Woodburn Riddel, born in Pollockshields, a district in the south side of Glasgow, would have been 11 years old in 1891 and the reason for her absence from the household has not been determined.

Charles David Riddel, the main subject of this research, was born to Charles Robert and Jessie Riddel in St. Petersburg, Russia on the 22^nd of September 1894. The Riddels were in Russia at the time because Charles was employed there to start up a factory for a firm by the name of J & M Coats.[6] Entry number 682 in the United Kingdom and Overseas Register of British Subjects (for Russia) states the following:

The Riddel family returned home to Scotland sometime in the mid- to late 1890s. Their last child, John Alfred Riddel, was born at Ivy Bank, Ashton Road in Gourock, Scotland on the 10^th of August 1898.

In 1904 Jessie McGill Riddel married one Alexander Dewar in 1904 and in 1905 and Mary Woodburn Riddel married one Rowland Lishman. Christina Hutton Riddel died a spinster at Wandsworth, London in 1966. Charlotte Josephine Riddle married one Alexander Davidson in 1919 and died at Westminster, London in 1974.

The 1911 Census of England and Wales shows that Charles David Riddle and his mother were visitors living with a family named Neild. The Neild family address was 65 Manchester Road in Accrington, Lancashire and Charles’ occupation was listed as an apprentice engineer (see a photograph of the Neild house and the 1911 Census table below).

Figure 2. The Neild House at 65 Manchester Road, Accrington, Lancashire.
(Courtesy of Google Earth)

Jessie’s occupation indicates that she must have been working in the same industry as her husband.

On the 3^rd of November 1912 Charles’ sister Mary Woodburn Lishman died during childbirth in North Shields, Tynemouth, Northumberland. She was the first of Charles’ siblings to pass on.[7]

Charles David Riddel attended Glasgow Academy prior to the Great War of 1914-1918. The Glasgow Academy was and is an independent day school for pupils aged 3 to 18. Founded in 1845, it is the oldest continuously independent school in the city. The Academy relocated to Colebrooke Street in 1878, having previously been based at Elmbank Street in the Charing Cross area of the city. The Academy expanded on its Kelvinbridge site with a new Science block in 1903 and this was probably where Charles attended the school.

It is not known during which years Riddel attended the academy. His name is listed in the Glasgow Academy Roll of Honour, 1914-1918, a book that was published in 1933 to honour those who served in the Great War. In this book it shows that he served as a Private in The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and as a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. A medal index card found for him indicates that he also served as a Corporal in the Royal Engineers for a short period prior to his commissioning, but it does not show any service in the Cameron Highlanders.

Based on an entry the Glasgow Academy Roll of Honour, 1914-1918 it appears that Charles David Riddel served in the ranks of The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders before the Great War. He turned 18 years of age in 1912 so in that year he would have been eligible for full enlistment in the ranks of the regiment. It is possible that he served in a regular battalion of the Cameron’s or he may have been a Private in either the regiment’s militia or volunteer battalion. In 1900 the 1^st Volunteer Battalion of The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders was based at Inverness. Just prior to the outbreak of the Great War, the regiment had a militia battalion known as the 3^rd Battalion (Highland Light Infantry Militia). In 1912, the first year that Charles could enlist in the ranks, there were two regular battalions of the regiment. Riddel probably was not serving in a regular battalion of the regiment; however, if he was, he might have been able to transfer to the Royal Engineers for service during the Great War. Undoubtedly his education and status as an “apprentice engineer” had something to do with his being released from the Camerons in order to join the Sappers. From his medal index card and from the naming on his 1914-15 Star it appears that his prior military service also enabled him to join as, or to rise quickly to the rank of Corporal in the Royal Engineers after his attestation. Unfortunately without a copy of his Attestation papers, it will not be possible to determine precisely how he entered the Army and in which regiment or corps he first enlisted. Figure 4a below shows Charles Riddel in a postcard photograph. The postcard was addressed to Miss Milne (his future wife) at 23 Burlington Street in Blackburn, Lancashire. His pencil-written message reads:

Well, Can you find me in the photo. It is taken one day while we were at mess.

I’m second at the table on the right of the photo. Shall be having some more taken.

Charles David Riddel is the second man seated on the right side of the table, peeking out from behind the man to his left. It is assumed that this photograph was taken just after his enlistment and before he and the other men had been issued uniforms. They may all be newly-recruited Privates in the Cameron Highlanders. Charles subsequently was transferred from the Cameron Highlanders to the Royal Engineers and received a rapid promotion to Corporal. The bottom line of the postcard message obviously refers to a planned inspection of the men by His Majesty King George V on the following day.

Medal rolls indicate that 30397 Corporal Charles David Riddel, Royal Engineers embarked for service in France on the 18^th of March 1915. The unit in which he was serving when he arrived in France is not known and without his service papers it will be impossible to definitely determine which unit it was. A guess might be made by examining the regimental number of casualties during the war that were in the block 30XXX. Such a search of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site indicates that the majority of casualties with regimental numbers in this block were members of the Royal Engineers Signal Service; therefore, Corporal Riddel could have served in a Signals unit, but this is by no means conclusive.

On the 7^th of October 1915 he was discharged from the ranks to be commissioned and on the following day he received his commission as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers Territorial Force and was posted to the 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company, Royal Engineers, later re-designated the 490^th (Home Counties) Field Company.[8] The 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company was a unit of the Territorial Force based in Eastbourne and Brighton. It served prior to the Great War with the Home Counties Divisional Engineers, which had its headquarters at Ordnance Yard in Eastbourne.

The company had assembled for annual training on Salisbury Plain just as the war broke out in August of 1914. It returned to its home station for embodiment and had moved to its mobilization station at Dover almost at once, where it stayed until the 24^th of August 1914 engaged on defence works. The company then moved to the divisional concentration area in Wingham near Canterbury in readiness for posting overseas. The company left the Canterbury area for Southampton on the 21^st of December 1914 and sailed for France on the following day, arriving at Le Havre on the 23^rd. See the chronology of the company’s movements in Appendix A of this narrative.

The 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company became part of the 8^th Division on the 2^nd of February 1915 when during the winter of 1914 it was decided by the War Office to send an additional field company out to each division of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that already was in France. These companies were to come from the first line[9] Territorial units that had mobilized on the outbreak of the war and had had some five months’ training before going to the front. The eight infantry divisions then in France received, between the 10^th of December 1914 and the 3^rd of January 1915, an additional field company.

This additional field company was a welcome addition to the divisional engineers. Besides providing a third company to fit the three-brigade organization of the divisions, it afforded relief to the overworked regular companies, which by that time were very much in need of a rest. The new unit brought a varied experience, which, if it was not war experience, was fruitful in organizing such growing necessities as workshops, saw-mills, laundries and other facilities in the field.[10]

Upon joining the 8^th Division the 1^/1stHome Counties Field Company it found itself in a division that has spent an uncomfortable winter in the line between Pont Logy and Fauquissart with the River Lys having overflowed its banks and the defensive positions waterlogged. The Sappers were employed on breastworks in the forward line, improving strong points, bridging trenches, setting up water points, tactical wiring, construction of knife rests and other field engineering tasks. The men of the company also were initiated into the manufacture of mortars and jam-pot bombs.

At this point in the narrative of Riddel’s service it seems appropriate to discuss the company’s War Diary; its organization and content. The War Diary of the 490^th (Home Counties) Field Company consists of 794 pages, starting on the 19^th of December 1914 and ending on the 7^th of May 1919. The diary consists of handwritten pages prepared each day and describing the work undertaken by the company and major events that occurred during its time in France and Flanders. The form used to record this information is the War Diary or Intelligence Summary, Army Form C. 2118, an example of which is shown below. In addition to the daily notes written on Army Form C. 2118, the diary also included copies of division operations orders, operations orders of the division’s Commander Royal Engineers, operations orders of the brigades of the 8^th Division as well as notes from these headquarters and sketches and maps made by the officers of the company.

The diary entries for a month usually were accompanied by a Field State report, Army Form B. 231 such as the one shown below. This report indicates the Fighting Strength and the Ration Strength of the company on the date indicated. These figures show the personnel strength, the number and type of horses and mules in the unit and tool and technical carts in the company. The report also indicates the number and type of personnel attached to the company; that is, personnel who were not normally are assigned to an engineer field company. This particular report shows that the company was equipped with three pontoons and additional animals for the pontoon wagons (thus giving the unit a bridging capability), a searchlight, general service wagon for the searchlight and 12 men of the London Electrical Engineers and 37 attached infantry.

Officers
A Major in command of the company, a Captain as second in command and three Lieutenants (or Second Lieutenants), one each commanding a section.

23 NCOs including the Company Sergeant-Major, Company Quartermaster Sergeant, Farrier Sergeant, 6 Sergeants, 7 Corporals, and 7 2nd-Corporals (a rank peculiar to the Royal Engineers and Army Ordnance Corps).

188 Other Ranks including a Shoeing Smith, a Trumpeter, a Bugler, 138 Sappers, 37 Drivers, 8 Batmen and 2 attached Privates of the Royal Army Medical Corps for water duties and 1 attached Driver of the Army Service Corps (not counted into strength as officially he was part of the Divisional Train).

A detachment of the field company normally was left at the company headquarters while the sections were in the field working on projects and supporting the infantry battalions of the division’s brigades. The company generally was organized into two components: the Mounted Branch, which included the Company Quartermaster Sergeant, the Farrier, the Shoeing Smith, Trumpeter, 3 NCOs and the drivers and batmen, and Dismounted Sections. The latter represented many kinds of trades required by the army in the field, including the following: 15 Blacksmiths, 20 Bricklayers, 40 Carpenters, 5 Clerks, 12 Masons, 6 Painters, 8 Plumbers, plus Surveyors, Draughtsmen, Wheelwrights, Engine Drivers and others as required for special projects. Infantry work parties frequently were attached to the company to provide local security for work areas and working parties to assist with projects.

The field company relied on horses and/or mules for transport and had an establishment of 17 riding horses for the officers and NCOs of the Mounted Branch, plus 50 draught heavy horses, and 4 pack horses. There were also 5 spare draught horses as replacements. With the exceptions of the Trumpeter and Bugler, all Other Ranks were armed as infantrymen, carrying the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) rifle. This enabled them to fight in defense of the company, but also to fight as infantry when required to plug a breach in a defensive line.

On the 4^th of December 1915, the date shown in Figure 6, the 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company consisted of 6 officers and 209 Other Ranks in the Fighting Strength, with 12 London Electrical Engineers, one searchlight operator, one Army Service Corps driver and 37 attached infantry. During its time in France and Flanders the 490^th Field Company would have a strength as high as 9 officers, 226 Other Ranks and 400 attached infantry for working parties, as well as an Interpreter.

The 490^th Field Company’s War Diary is unusual in a number of ways and differs from others seen by the author. Most daily entries were very brief and not very descriptive, except when something unusual occurred. Early in the war the daily entry would contain the officer and other ranks strength of the company and the number of casualties sustained. As time went on these entries were omitted. Very few personnel, officers or other ranks, are mentioned in the daily entries. Most other War Diaries contained the names of casualties on any particular day, recommendations or approval of awards for meritorious or distinguished conduct in the field, promotions, transfers or other actions involving personnel. This company’s War Diary did not contain many such entries. Officers sometimes were named when they went on leave or returned from leave and in Figure 5 above three officers are mentioned by name because they were casualties; however, such entries were not very common. A review of the 794 pages of the War Diary uncovered mention of the following officers in the unit during its time in France and Flanders:

What is surprising about the above list is that Riddel’s name does not appear on it. Did he not serve in this company? Has all this research about his service been in vain? Hopefully note, because as mentioned previously there is evidence that he was posted to the 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company in at least two and possibly three sources, yet his name does not appear in the diary. It is possible that due to his inexperience he may have been assigned Quartermaster or Transport duties within the company. In that case he would have remained in or near company headquarters and would not have featured prominently in field operations; hence, the lack of mention of his name in the daily diary entries. It also is possible that he may have been posted as a liaison officer between the company and the Commander Royal Engineers staff, with duties that were not recorded in the company War Diary. This is all supposition on the part of this author, but lacking any further evidence to the contrary I have assumed that Lieutenant Charles David Riddel did serve in this company in France and Flanders during the Great War.

Prior to the arrival of 2^nd Lieutenant Riddel in the 1^st Home Counties Field Company, the company had seen action in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle (10-13 March 1915)[13] and the Battle of Aubers (9 May 1915). On the 25^th of September 1915, only a few days prior to his arrival in the company, the 8^th Division had created two salients in the German defensive line in the area of Bois Grenier (See Map 1 below). These two features in the front line were named the Wells Farm Salient and the Bridoux Salient by the British. In the course of the night of the 25^th of September the 24^th Brigade of the division commenced the construction of a breastwork along the course of the ditch which formed the chord of the re-entrant between the two salients. The new work was thoroughly wired by the 1^st Home Counties Field Company and incorporated as a permanent part of the British front line, which it shortened by some 400 yards.[14] The company at this time was commanded by Major Cecil Clive Bryan, R.E.

The British offensives at Neuve Chapelle resulted in heavy battering of the front line trenches and the task of rebuilding them after each successive failure to break through the German lines and to get on higher ground was a difficult one. Throughout 1915 the trench system still consisted of the front line, a support line and occasionally a reserve line with detached posts or keeps. Farther back there were Corps lines and General Headquarters lines consisting of locally detached areas that had been rather spasmodically worked on and often allowed, for lack of labor, to fall into disrepair.[15] These were the work conditions that would greet 2^nd Lieutenant Riddle on his arrival in the company.

Riddle had been commissioned on the 8^th of March 1915 and had been posted to the 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company on that same date. He arrived in France on the 18^th of March 1915, so there must have been some time lag before he actually joined the company. “Posted” and “joined” can be two different thing, but it must be assumed that he joined the company within two or three days after arriving in France, say about the 20^th or 21^st of March 1915, probably in the vicinity of La Gorgue. On the 22^nd of March the 8^th Division withdrew from the sector it was holding when Riddel arrived and moved north to the Fleurbaix sector extending from Petillon to the area of Boutillerie. Riddel’s company moved to Fleurbaix on the 26^th of March 1915 and from there it was employed on remodeling trenches and preparing for the Battle of Fromelles.

During the Battle of Aubers Ridge on the 9^th of May 1915 the 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company worked on constructing splinter-proof shelters, foot bridges, mine galleries, wooden tracks, improvements to roads, gun emplacements and approach trenches. After moving to Sailly-sur-la-Lys on the 12^th of May, the company established an R.E. Dump[16] and worked on covered trenches in the line.

The early part of September 1915 was used to prepare for the Bois Grenier action, the 8^th Division’s small part in the Battle of Loos. Riddle’s company was tasked to build a pontoon bridge over the River Lys on the 25^th of September to assist the traffic situation. The company later helped to wire in the new line.

Map 1. The Action Before Bois Grenier, 25 September 1915.
(Map from Boraston and Bax)

Riddel and his company remained in the Bois Grenier area for a number of months, with the division go into line and then being relieved and placed in reserve a number of times. Between September of 1915 and April of 1916 the company moved many times to work on the front line trenches. Accommodation for the men of the company varied from a large sugar beet factory at Neuve Mond where it worked on a strong point, to an iron foundry at Albert where it began preparations for the Battle of the Somme.[17]

During April of 1916 the company started sapping towards the German lines and worked on dugouts, assembly positions, bomb shelters, observation posts, dressing stations and the men were practicing with Mills bombs, which were then a new type of hand grenade. It also carried out much wiring and the preparation of gaps for the planned attack. This was a relatively quiet period in terms of enemy action and casualties. There actually were no fatalities in the company between May of 1915 and the end of July 1916.

In preparation for the Battle of the Somme the following directive had been drawn up by Lieutenant Colonel F.G. Guggisberg, R.E., the Commander Royal Engineers of the 8^th Division when the division took over a portion of the III Corps front in April of 1916. This directive provides an excellent indication of the type of work to be accomplished by the field companies.

1. Laying out and superintending the digging of a front-line fire trench to join Largo St. to the junction of Inch St. and the old firing line. Wiring to be left to the infantry.

4. Approaches. Put them in a fit state for traffic, and label them; after which they will be handed over to the infantry.

5. Dug-out accommodation. Is to be increased as much as possible, especially in the trenches in and behind the support line. Old dug-outs now in disrepair should be reclaimed in preference to starting new ones. All dug-outs to be numbered in accordance with the system handed over by the 32^nd Division. Deep dug-outs should not be made in advance of the support line.

6. Wiring of the front line will be left to the infantry, as will also the wiring of the support and reserve lines, but both the latter under R.E. supervision.

7. Machine-gun emplacements and casemates. Each machine-gun should have a deep dug-out to hold the gun and crew during an enemy bombardment, for it will rarely be possible to provide cover to the actual gun position, that will resist a direct hit from a 5.9-in. shell.

8. Posts and defended localities. To be kept in a state of defence by their garrisons under supervision of O.C., 15^th Field Company:[18] Bécourt Wood; Maxse Redoubt; Usna Redoubt; Tara Redoubt.

11. Reconnaissance for a decauville tramway,[19] mule-drawn, will be made, and the line pegged out with numbered pegs. Starting-point, near the cemetery, north-west of Bellevue Farm.

On the 1^st of June 1916, while the company was at Albert, Riddel was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant (Special Appointment) Royal Engineers Territorial Force.[20]

Riddel’s company took part in the major British offensive on the Somme (1-13 July 1916), although it was a minor one as the 8^th Division was not in the initial assault on the 1^st of July. The company was still under the command of Major Bryan, who by this time had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order. The company went to Amiens on the 7^th of July and to Mazingarbe on the 12^th from where it worked on the front lines at Loos.

On the 22^nd of July the 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company moved to Noyelles into billets were it remained, carrying out the usual engineer works demanded of it by trench warfare, until the 10^th of October. The area was a maze of British, French and German trenches, with some of the German parapets revetted with corpses.[21] During the remainder of October the company moved a number of times in preparation for the 8^th Division attack against Le Transloy.

Things had been relatively quiet for the company between the 12^th of May 1915 and the 31^st of July 1916, during which time the unit suffered no fatal casualties. Even in the aftermath of the Somme offensive the company lost only three men between the 1^st of August and the 1^st of September 1916. Things were to change drastically, however, during the fall of 1916. In October of 1916, while at Longueval, the company lost 6 Sappers killed in action. One of the men lost was 456 Sapper Sydney George Fenwick (age 20) who was killed in action on the 23^rd of October. The medals and Memorial Plaque of Sapper Fenwick are in the author’s collection.

Figure 7. 456 Sapper Sydney George Fenwick, R.E.
(Photograph from the author’s collection)

The 8^th Division took part in the offensive against Le Transloy between the 23^rd and the 30^th of October 1916. The 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company took part in the attack supporting the advancing infantry and digging additional communication trenches in the battle area. The company then went into a rest area at Mansell Camp and was given the task of erecting Nissen huts in early November. The company continued its rest period until the 8^th Division moved back into the front line on the 19^th of December. The engineers encountered very muddy conditions in the line and were required to carry out improvements to the trenches and tactical wiring until the 3^rd of January 1917 when the division was again taken out of line and sent to a rest area. The company moved back into line on the 11^th of February and to Littledale Camp near Clery on the 20^th of February. In this area the men worked on brigade and battalion posts, aid posts, platoon dugouts, extensions to a 60 cm railway and on gun emplacements.

During the remainder of the spring of 1917 the 8^th Division was in the Fourth Army (Chief Engineer, Major General R.U.H. Buckland) serving in the XV Corps (Chief Engineer, Brigadier P.G. Grant). The 8^th Division C.R.E. was Lieutenant Colonel C.M. Browne and Riddel’s company by this time had been re-designated as the 490^th (Home Counties) Field Company.[22] The company’s designation had been changed on the 1^st of February 1917.

Between the 1^st of November 1916 and the end of June 1917 things again got quiet for the company. The company lost one Sapper at the end of November 1916 and three more men near the end of February 1917. On the 1^st of July 1917, however, the 490^th Field Company suffered one of its worst days in terms of losses, with one Sapper killed in action and a Corporal and 2^nd Corporal dying of their wounds on that day.

The work of the 8^th Division Royal Engineers in preparation for the forthcoming battles in the summer of 1917 included burying telephone cables, forming dugouts, moving stores into forward dumps and repairing old roads and building new corduroy roads.

Lieutenant Riddel and the 490^th Field Company took part in the Battle of Pilckem during the period from the 31^st of July to the 2^nd of August 1917. The 8^th Division was then in II Corps (Chief Engineer, Brigadier General C. Godby) as part of the Fifth Army. During this period the men of the 490^th Field Company assisted a tunnelling company in making huge underground chambers for the accommodation of troops, particularly in the reserve brigade.

The Battle of Pilckem cost the unit three more men. Following this battle the company was located in the Steenvoorde area with the rest of the division for re-fitting, training and preparations for coming operations. On the night of 10/11 August low-flying German aircraft dropped bombs at 20-yard intervals right across the division’s camp alongside the Divisional Headquarters. Two huts occupied by men of the 2^nd Battalion of the Middlesex regiment received direct hits which caused 66 casualties. Another bomb struck the hut occupied by the 490^th Field Company’s commanding officer. Major Bryan was killed instantly. Two other officers of the company, 2^nd Lieutenant S.U. Baily, R.E.[23] and 2^nd Lieutenant A.J. Kennedy, R.E.[24] and six other ranks were wounded in the same raid.[25] This incident is described in the War Diary page shown in Figure 5 above. Major Bryan was replaced as commanding officer of the company by Major D.L. Herbert, M.C., R.E.

Following its period of rest and training, the 490^th Field Company took part in the Battle of Langemarck from the 16^th to the 18^th of August 1917. The company worked out of Westhoek during this action (See map 2 below) and laid tapes in readiness for the attack to enable the infantry to move in the proper directions. Sections of the company also worked on repairing Lock D and Lock Number 9 on the Ypres-Comines Canal. The company did not sustain any fatalities during the battle, but a Driver and two Sappers were lost between the 1^st of September and the 1^st of October.

Map 2. The 8^th Division Attack from Westhoek on 16 August 1917.
(Map from Boraston and Bax)

The 8^th Division spent the autumn and winter of 1917 in the Passchendaele sector where its subordinate units were involved in numerous local actions. Within the sector the divisional units moved to the Berquin and Lamotte areas to the southeast of Hazebrouck in November, to the Wizernes area south of St. Omer in early December and back to the Passchendaele area in late December of 1917. The 490^th Field Company spent most of the winter in Ypres. During the remainder of the winter of 1917 and the spring of 1918 the company settled into the trench warfare routine of going on line, being relieved to go into reserve and then returning to the line. The company work during this period included maintaining communications, repairing old and constructing new corduroy roads, duck board tracks and other work necessary to improve the division’s defensive positions.

The company took part in the Battle of St. Quentin from the 21^st to the 23^rd of March 1918 during the large German spring offensive. The German advance caused the 8^th Division to have to retreat from its forward positions along the Somme River. On the 24^th of March Riddel and his company were west of Potte on the Morchain-Pertain Road. The company was the only remaining division reserve and it was instructed to take up a position astride the Morchain-Pertain Road during the morning of the 24^th. Captain G.H.S. Kent, Sergeant Albert Harffey and Sapper Thomas W. Strike were killed on action on this day.

On the 25^th they were near Omiecourt and on the 26^th and 27^th the company was near Méharicourt southeast of Rosieres. The company lost seven men killed on the 25^th and five more on the 27^th. By the night of the 30^th of March the units of the 8^th Division had taken up defensive positions on the high ground east of Castel (See Map 3).

Map 3. The Line of Retreat of the 8^th Division, March 1918.
(Map from Boraston and Bax)

Lieutenant W.G. Leslie-Carter wrote a summary of the hard-fought actions that took place on the 26^th and 27^th of March. His summary was attached as an appendix to the War Diary for those dates and is presented as Figures 8-1 to 8-4, below.

Figures 8-1 to 8-4. Lieutenant W.G. Leslie-Carter’s Summary of the Battle.

Following the Battle of St. Quentin the 490^th Field Company was to get little rest. The Battle of Villers-Bretonneux followed on the 26^th and 27^th of April 1918, the Battle of the Aisne from the 27^th of May to the 6^th of June and the Battle of the Scarpe from the 26^th to the 30^th of August. The Battle of the Aisne was a particularly costly one for the 490^th Field Company. On the 27^th of May the company lost one officer and seven Other Ranks including 532338 Lance Corporal Albert Fenwick (age 23), the brother of 456 Sapper Sydney George Fenwick. On the following day another Sapper of the company was killed in action.

Figure 9. A Section of the 490^th Field Company, R.E. (Lance Corporal Fenwick is the man with the bandolier, fourth from the left standing in the third row).[26]
(Photograph from the author’s collection)

One can only imagine the anguish of their parents, Frederick and Mary Ann Fenwick, of 41, Seaford Rd., Eastbourne when learning of the death of their second son in the same field company of the Royal Engineers. Sydney George Fenwick is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Albert Fenwick is commemorated on the Soisson Memorial. Apparently neither man has a known grave.

By late September 1918 the Germans finally had had enough and the British began the pursuit of the enemy to Mons. During the pursuit the 490^th Field company moved with the 8^th Division to Douai (17 October), Vimy Ridge, Gavrelle, Oppy, the Rouvroy-Fresnes, the Drocourt-Queant Line, Marchiennes (19 October), Canal Du Jard (25 October) and finally to Mons (11 November). During the period from the 31^st of May to the 11^th of November, the company lost nine more men, all Sappers.

A complete chronology of the movements of the 490^th (Home Counties) Field Company, Royal Engineers during the Great War is included in Appendix A. A complete listing of all casualties of the company may be found in Appendix B.

On the 1^st of November 1918, prior to reaching Mons, Lieutenant Riddel left the 490^th Field Company, Royal Engineers and was appointed to a staff position, Class GG at a headquarters, presumably within the 8^th Division. At the time of his transfer the 490^th Field Company was commanded by Major L.C. Chasey, M.C., R.E.

The 490^th (Home Counties) Field Company was demobilized in May of 1919 as was Lieutenant Charles David Riddel. He relinquished his commission in 1921.

Other male members of the Riddel family were not to stand idle during the war. On the 19^th of April 1918 his father, Charles Robert Riddle, went to France with the British Red Cross and Order of St. John Ambulance Corps. The organization’s records show that he held the rank of “Searcher,” Certificate Number 16370, Passport Number 185745 and that he was in the Enquiry Department at Havre.

Following the start of the Great War in 1914, the British Red Cross joined forces with the Order of St. John Ambulance to form the Joint War committee and Joint War Organization. They pooled resources and formed Voluntary Aid Detachments (or VADs) with members trained in First Aid, Nursing, Cookery, Hygiene and Sanitation. These detachments all worked under the auspices of the Red Cross, working in hospitals, rest stations, work parties and supply centers.

Figure 10. Badges of the British Red Cross – Order of St. John.
(Images courtesy of Wikipedia)
The Joint War Organization also provided assistance at the front line, supplying the first motorized ambulances to the battlefields, which were significantly more efficient then the horse drawn ambulances they replaced. The Joint War Organization also was active in setting up centers for recording the wounded and missing. Red Cross volunteers searched towns, villages and hospitals where fighting had occurred, noting names of the missing, the injured and the dead. Centers for recording the wounded and missing were set up in France with Red Cross searchers going to villages where fighting had taken place and to local hospitals. Information could then be passed to families nervously waiting for news of loved ones.

Charles Robert Riddel was 63 years old when he was performing this duty as a “Searcher.” In addition to possibly coming under enemy fire while performing this duty he surely had to contend with moving over broken ground and mud-filled shell holes and trenches to locate both dead and wounded soldiers. For a man of his age this could not have been an easy task. For his service in France during the war (from the 19^th of April 1918 to 31^st of March 1919) Charles Robert Riddel was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Charles David Riddel’s brother also served in the Great War. Being junior to Charles by four years he could not enter the Army at the beginning of the war. He was commissioned in the Tank Corps and went to France on the 30^th of May 1918. He subsequently transferred to the Intelligence Department. For his service he was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

John Riddel relinquished his commission at the end of the war and on the 3^rd of June 1922, as shown in his Medal Index Card below, he applied for his medals. His address at the time that he applied for the medals was “Raivola,”[27] 169 Nithsdale Road, Pollockshields, a district on the south side of Glasgow. As seen in Figure 13 below the building at this address is rather an impressive structure. In the 1920s this building may have been a boarding house or a hotel. If it was John Riddel’s private residence, then he must have done very well financially immediately after the war, which seems unlikely.

Figure 13. John Alfred Riddel’s Residence at 169 Nithsdale Road, Pollockshields.

Charles David Riddel was appointed a Lieutenant in the National Defence Companies, Territorial Army Reserve on the 28^th of June 1939.[28] The National Defence Companies of the Territorial Army were a voluntary military reserve force of the British Army for the purpose of home defence in the event of war. Enlistment was limited to former members of the British Armed Forces between the ages of 45 and 60. The scheme was established in 1936 during rearmament prior to World War II. On the outbreak of war in September 1939, the National Defence Companies were called up for service and became the basis of the Home Service Battalions.

After the end of World War I responsibility for home defence on land rested with the Territorial Army and also the Royal Defence Corps which consisted of regular army soldiers who were too old or unfit for front line duties. With the rise of Nazi Germany during the 1930s, the British Government came under political pressure to modernize and re-equip the Armed Forces. As a part of that process, Duff Cooper, the Secretary of State for War, announced the disbandment of the Royal Defence Corps and the establishment of National Defence Companies that were to be a part of the Territorial Army. In a statement to the House of Commons on the 21^st of July 1936, he said that the companies would be formed on a county or city basis, each being linked to their local Territorial battalion. Enlistment would start on the 1^st of September of that year, and was open to "ex-members of His Majesty's Forces, normally between the ages of 45 and 60 years". Their role was stated to be "to protect important points in Great Britain when war is threatening or has actually broken out, but members of the force will not be called up until these conditions arise, nor will they be called up on account of civil disturbance". Cooper stated that the national establishment would consist of 8,450 officers and men, "and I have every confidence that I shall have no difficulty in securing this number of men in a very short time."

The National Defence Companies were mobilized on the 25^th and 26^th of August 1939, in the week before war was actually declared. In answer to a question in the House of Commons on the 26^th of September, Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Secretary of State for War, said that he had "in contemplation a change in the present method of manning vulnerable points". On the 3^rd of October, Sir Victor Warrender, the Financial Secretary to the War Office, announced that recruitment to the companies was "not open at present". In November 1939, the National Defence Companies were formed into battalions attached to regular army regiments; renamed "Home Service Battalions", they would guard vulnerable points and Prisoner of War camps in the United Kingdom throughout the rest of the war.

As indicated in the paragraph above, the National Defence Companies became attached to regular army regiments, so on the 24^th of August 1939 Lieutenant Riddel was posted to The East Lancashire Regiment and is listed in the 1941 Army List as being “Employed” with the regiment. During the early part of the war he was posted to the staff of an internment camp near Oldham, Lancashire. This would have been the Glen Mill Prisoner of War Camp that was located in an old cotton mill. Glen Mill was one of the main POW camps in the north and west of England during the war. It was situated between Wellyhole/Constantine Street and the River Medlock at Lees in Oldham. Riddel's service at Glen Mill would correlated with him being in a Home Service Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, as service in POW camps was one of the duties performed by these battalions. It is most likely that he served in the 6^th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, as this battalion was formed in 1939 as a Home Defence Battalion. The unit subsequently was renamed the 30^th Home Defence Battalion in 1941 and was disbanded in 1943. Since Riddel left the regiment to be “specially employed” in 1943, this also would correlate with the year that the 30^th Home Defence Battalion was disbanded and he was posted to other duties.[29]

Figure 13. Lieutenant Charles David Riddel, East Lancashire Regiment
at the Glen Mill Prisoner of War Camp.
(Image courtesy of Diane Rosemary Askwith)

Lieutenant Riddel’s special employment took the form of a posting to the War Office, Department of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Staff Officer, 3^rd Grade (GSO 3). In 1945 he left this staff position and returned to The East Lancashire Regiment. On the 29^th of September 1945 he was promoted to the rank of War Substantive Captain and was appointed a Temporary Major on the same date.[30] For his service during the war he was awarded the 1939-45 Star, Defence Medal and 1939-45 War Medal. Upon his release from active service he reverted to the rank of Captain and took up residence at 7 Kenworthy Lane in Wythenshawe, Manchester. He appears to have lived there until at least 1959 when he moved to Blackburn, Lancashire.

In 1957 Riddel was awarded the Territorial Decoration for his combined long service in the Territorial Force during the Great War of 1914-1918 and his service in the Territorial Army just prior to, and during, World War 2. The criterion was for a minimum of 20 years service in the Territorial Force and Territorial Army, with war service counting double and service in the ranks counting half. The majority of his service was during war time; therefore, those years would have counted double for him.

Figure 15. Charles David Riddel’s Residence at 7 Kenworthy Lane, Wythenshawe, Manchester.
(Photograph courtesy of Google Maps)

Promotions: Charles David Riddel received the following promotions during his time in service:

Appointments: Charles David Riddel received the following appointments during his time in service:

Without his service papers it is not possible to know what military training Charles David Riddel might have received during his time in the Army. To have served in the Cameron Highlanders he most certainly must have received training as an infantry soldier. If he transferred or enlisted in the Royal Engineers for some significant period prior to going to France in March of 1915, he may even have received training as an engineer soldier at the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, Kent.

As with his military training, the qualifications that Charles David Riddel earned during his time in the Army are not specifically known. He received his commission in the field without any training to qualify him as an officer; however, his civil trade of “engineer” and his training in the ranks of the Royal Engineers prior to his commissioning may have been considered to be sufficient qualifications. At some point near the end of the Great War he qualified as a Staff Officer, Class GG.

Charles David Riddel received the following medals, awards and decorations during his time in service.[31] The table also shows the manner in which the medals were named. The medals were all mounted on a medal bar as Riddel wore them when they were acquired by the author.

Figure 16. The Medals of Charles David Riddel.
(Photograph from the author’s collection)

In June of 1918 while he was on active service with the Royal Engineers, Charles David Riddel married Miss Winifred Milnes in Blackburn, Lancashire. His marriage to Winifred appears to have been the beginning of his association with the county of Lancashire. This may ultimately have led to his appointment as an officer in The East Lancashire Regiment at the start of World War 2.

Winifred gave birth to their daughter, Barbara Jean Riddel, in Blackburn, Lancashire on the 10^th of April 1919.

Charles’ mother, Jessie Riddel, died in Berkshire in 1919 at her daughter Charlotte’s home. It appears that Charles’ father went abroad probably after his wife’s death, as the ship’s manifest for the Nelson Line’s S.S. Highland Glen shows Charles Robert Riddel arriving in London from Buenos Aires, Argentina on the 17^th of December 1919.

Figure 17. A Nelson Lines Poster Showing an Embarkation Notice for the Highland Glen and Other Ships.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia).

Following his demobilization, Charles brother, John Alfred, went into business as a merchant. There is a record of him arriving in Glasgow from China aboard the Blue Funnel Line S.S. Teiresias on the 30^th of May 1922.

John Alfred Riddel married Miss Kathleen Margaret Shepherd-Folker at Sutton, St. Nicholas, Surrey on the 23^rd of April 1923. Their son Ian McGill Riddel was born in Epsom in 1924.

In 1929 Charles Robert Riddel was residing at 101 Mycenae Road in Greenwich. The Greenwich telephone book for this year shows no other person living with him at that address.

From 1931 to 1937 Charles Robert Riddel was living alone at 22, The Cottage, Blackheath Park, Greenwich. He and his son-in-law Alexander Dewar had worked together in various management capacities at the Linoleum Manufacturing Company at Staines, London, while also traveling extensively internationally.

John Alfred Riddel emigrated to South Africa in 1937 with his wife and son Ian. They took up residence in Durban and Kathleen became a South African citizen.[32]

The family patriarch, Charles Robert Riddel, returned to Scotland after living for some time in Greenwich. He also appears to have lived for some time in Barcelona, Spain. He died on the 30^th of August 1943 at the age of 90 while he was living at 10 Aytoun Road in Glasgow.

In 1946 John Alfred Riddel and his wife Kathleen divorced in South Africa. Their son Ian had served in the South African Navy in World War 2 (Midshipman, date of rank 1 December 1942, Sub-Lieutenant, 22 February 1944). Kathleen Riddel returned to Walmer, Kent in 1958 or 1959. John Alfred Riddel died in South Africa in 1961. John had remarried and his second wife, Phyllis Una Riddel, died at Capetown on the 24^th of February 1988.

Charles David Riddel’s sister, Jessie McGill Riddel, died on the 10^th of May 1963 while residing at Flat 4, Hyde Park Gate, London SW7, a rather exclusive apartment complex.

Charles David Riddel died at Blackburn, Lancashire on the 1^st of May 1964 at the age of 69 years. His remains were cremated on the 4^th of May 1964. No burial place for his remains has been uncovered during this research.

Charles’ sister, Christina Hutton Riddel, died a spinster in 1966. His sister Charlotte Josephine Davidson died in Westminster in 1974.

Charles' wife Winifred died in 1974. His daughter, Barbara Jean, had married Colin Orkney Askwith (1919-1998) in 1943. Colin and Barbara had two children, Christopher Ian Askwith and Diane Rosemary Askwith (see Addendum No.1 below). Barbara Jean Riddel passed away in 1976 in Newport, Gwent, Wales.

Other than where he lived, little is known of Charles David Riddel’s life after the Great War and after World War 2. He appears to have received a technical education and was an apprentice engineer prior to the Great War, but no details about is work between the wars or after 1945 has been uncovered.

APPENDIX A
490^th (Home Counties) Field Company, Royal Engineers
(formerly 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company)

Major Headquarters	Locations	Dates
Home
Home Counties Division	Salisbury Plain	4 Aug 1914
Home Counties Division	Ordnance Yard, Eastourne, Sussex	4 - 23 Aug 1914
Home Counties Division	Wingham, Kent	19 Dec 1914
Home Counties Division	Southampton, Hampshire	21 Dec 1914
Home Counties Division	Aboard S.S. Georgian bound for France	22 Dec 1914
France and Flanders
General Headquarters, BEF	Arrival at Le Havre	23 Dec 1914
General Headquarters, BEF	Le Havre	23 – 28 Dec 1914
General Headquarters, BEF	En route to St. Omer	29 Dec 1914
General Headquarters, BEF	Racquinghem	30 Dec 1914 – 31 Jan 1915
General Headquarters, BEF	St. Venant	1 Feb 1915
8^th Division	St. Estaire La Gorgue	2 Feb – 9 Mar 1915 2 Mar 1915
8^th Division	Rue Tilleloy	10 Mar 1915
8^th Division	Battle of Neuve Chapelle(Pontoon Bridge –River Lys)	10-13 Mar 1915
8^th Division	La Gorgue	14 - 23 Mar 1915
8^th Division	Nouveau Monde	24 Mar 1915
8^th Division	Fleurbaix	25 Mar – 1 May 1915
8^th Division	Rouge De Boul	2 – 8 May 1915
8^th Division	Battle of Aubers	9 - 11 May 1915
8^th Division	Sailly-sur-la-Lys	12 May – 24 Sep 1915
8^th Division	Fleurbaix (Pontoon Bridge – River Lys)	25 - 26 Sep 1915 25 Sep 1915
8^th Division	Sailly	27 Sep – 20 Nov 1915
8^th Division	Laventie	21-23 Nov 1915
8^th Division	Noureau Monde	24 Nov – 29 Dec 1915
8^th Division	Steenbecque	30 Dec 1915 - 8 Jan 1916
8^th Division	Estaires	9 Jan 1916
8^th Division	Sailly-sur-la-Lys	10 Jan – 27 Mar 1916
8^th Division	En route to Yzeux	28 Mar 1916
8^th Division	Yzeau	29 Mar – 3Apr 1916
8^th Division	Rainneville, near Albert	4 Apr 1916
8^th Division	Albert	5 Apr – 22 Jun 1916
8^th Division	Henencourt	23 Jun 1916
8^th Division	Battle of Albert (The Somme) Aveluy Bridge Head Defences Allon Ville Camp Des Amienois Saleux Amiens Bororg Mazingarbe	1-13 Jul 1916 1-3 Jul 4 Jul 5 Jul 6 Jul 7 Jul 8-11 Jul 12-13 Jul
8^th Division	Mazingarbe	14-17 Jul 1916
8^th Division	Beuvry	18-21 Jul 1916
8^th Division	Noyelles	22 Jul – 9 Oct 1916
8^th Division	Noeux Les Mines	10 Oct 1916
8^th Division	Burbure	11-14 Oct 1916
8^th Division	Allery	15 Oct 1916
8^th Division	Citadel Camp (Happy Valley) at Araines near Fricourt	16-18 Oct 1916
8^th Division	Longueville	19-29 Oct 1916
8^th Division	Citadel Camp (Happy Valley) near Fricourt	30 Oct – 5 Nov 1916
8^th Division	Bernafay Wood	6-16 Nov 1916
8^th Division	Mansell Camp	17-28 Nov 1916
8^th Division	Warlus	29 Nov – 27 Dec 1916
8^th Division	Camp 12	28 Dec 1916
8^th Division	Camp 16	29 Dec 1916
8^th Division	Mouchoir Copse near Fregicourt	30 Dec 1916 – 2 Jan 1917
8^th Division	Combles	3-9 Jan 1917
8^th Division	Camp 112 near Bray	10-26 Jan 1917
8^th Division	Leforet	27 Jan – 11 Feb 1917
8^th Division	Junction Wood	12-21 Feb 1917
8^th Division	Littledale Dump	22 Feb – 1 Apr 1917
8^th Division	Moislains	2-14 Apr 1917
8^th Division	Gurlu Wood	15-22 Apr 1917
8^th Division	Hendicourt	23 Apr – 12 May 1917
8^th Division	Nurlu	13-28 May 1917
8^th Division	Moislains	29-30 May 1917
8^th Division	Sieta Susanne	31 May 1917
8^th Division	Sailly Le Sec	1-4 Jun 1917
8^th Division	Strazeele	5-10 Jun 1917
8^th Division	Le Brearde	11-14 Jun 1917
8^th Division	Brandhoek	15-17 Jun 1917
8^th Division	Dominion Camp	18-28 Jun 1917
8^th Division	Brisbane Dump near Ypres	29 Jun – 15 Jul 1917
8^th Division	Scottish Camp near Ypres	16-19 Jul 1917
8^th Division	Scottish Lines near Ypres	20-29 Jul 1917
8^th Division	Locknog	30 Jul 1917
8^th Division	Battle of Pilckem Dominion Camp near Ypres	31 Jul – 2 Aug 1917 2 Aug
8^th Division	Dominion Camp near Ypres	3-9 Aug 1917
8^th Division	Steenvoorde	10-13 Aug 1917
8^th Division	Lock D, Ypres-Comines Canal	14-16 Aug 1917
8^th Division	Battle of Langemarck Westhoek Lock No. 9, Ypres-Comines Canal	16-18 Aug 1917 16 Aug 1917 17-18 Aug 1917
8^th Division	Ypres-Comines Canal	19-22 Aug 1917
8^th Division	Borre	23-26 Aug 1917
8^th Division	Le Trois Pipes	27 Aug – 13 Nov 1917
8^th Division	Rue Montigney	14-16 Nov 1917
8^th Division	Merris	17 Nov 1917
8^th Division	A canal bank at some unknown location (map references only)	18 Nov 1917 – 21 Mar 1918
8^th Division	Battle of St. Quentin Rosieres	21-23 Mar 1918 22-23 Mar
8^th Division	Pertain, near Amiens	24 Mar 1918
8^th Division	Caix, near Amiens	25 Mar 1918
8^th Division	Battle of Rosieres Jumel, near Amiens	26-27 Mar 1918 26-27 Mar
8^th Division	Jumel, near Amiens	28-29 Mar 1918
8^th Division	Cottenchy, near Amiens	30-Mar – 1 Apr 1918
8^th Division	Foudrinoy	2-3 Apr 1918
8^th Division	Conde, near Lens	4-11 Apr 1918
8^th Division	Camon, near Amiens	12-18 Apr 1918
8^th Division	Blangy Tronville	19-23 Apr 1918
8^th Division	Battle of Villers-Bretonneux	24-25 Apr 1918
8^th Division	Boutillerie	26 Apr- 6 May 1918
8^th Division	Seringes Soisson	7-11 May 1918
8^th Division	Montigny	12-13 May 1918
8^th Division	Grand Berriaux Camp	14-23 May 1918
8^th Division	Le Cholera	24-26 May 1918
8^th Division	Battle of the Aisne Gernicourt and Grand Bel Lay Wood Vandeuil Wood at Romigny-Jonquerry Oeuilly Bois De Boursault and Mosline Givry-Lez-Loizy	27 May – 6 Jun 1918 27 May 28 May 29 May 30 May 31 May – 2 Jun 3-6 Jun
8^th Division	Givry-Lez-Loizy	7-9 Jun 1918
8^th Division	Linthes	10-13 Jun 1918
8^th Division	Vaux-Marquenneville, near Dieppe	14-22 Jun 1918
8^th Division	Beauchamps	23 Jun 1918
8^th Division	St. Quentin Lamotte	24 Jun – 20 Jul 1918
8^th Division	Barlin	21-22 Jul 1918
8^th Division	Camp near Berthonval Farm	23 Jul – 25 Aug 1918
8^th Division	Battle of the Scarpe	26-30 Aug 1918
8^th Division	Camp near Berthonval Farm	1-11 Sep 1918
8^th Division	Winter Lane Trench	12 Sep -27 Sep 1918
8^th Division	Pursuit to Mons Winter Lane Trench Pudding Lane Trench Camp at Biache Corbehem Raches En route to Millonfosse Millonfosse	28 Sep – 11 Nov 1918 28 Sep – 2 Oct 1918 3-12 Oct 13-17 Oct 18-19 Oct 20-22 Oct 23 Oct 24 Oct – 9 Nov
8^th Division	Fresnes, Le Petit Crepin Pommeroeuil	10-15 Nov 1918
8^th Division	Tertre	16 Nov 1918
8^th Division	Froidmont, near Tournai	17 Nov – 16 Dec 1918
8^th Division	Pipaix, near Tournai	17 Dec 1918
8^th Division	Near Tournai	18 Dec 1918
8^th Division	Hoves, near Brussels	19 Dec 1918 – 6 Mar 1919
8^th Division	Villers-St-Amand, near Tournai	7 Mar -3 April 1919
8^th Division	Ath, Belgium	4 Apr – 3 May 1919
8^th Division	Dunkirk	4 May 1919

APPENDIX B
Fatalities in the 490^th Field Company, Royal Engineers in France and Flanders During the Great War of 1914-1918
(in order by date of death)
Prepared from data obtained from the company War Diary, Soldiers Died in the Great War, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Name	Regimental Number	Rank	Place and Date of Death	Cause of Death
Unit Designation: 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company, R.E.
Fuller, Arthur	2509	Sapper	Rue Tilloy 11 March 1915	DOW
Cornford, Victor W.	331	Sapper	Nouveau Monde 23 March1915	DOW
Colbran, A. E. P.	285	Sapper	Fleurbaix 1 April 1915	DOW
Couchman, Frederick John	481	Sapper	Fleurbaix 10 April 1915	DOW
Robertson, Frederick	2555	Driver	Fleurbaix 16 April 1915	KIA
Cane, Victor Howell	2671	Sapper	Fleurbaix 19 April 1915	KIA
Wyatt, George Alexander	30851	Sapper	Rouge De Bout 8 May 1915	KIA
Cooper, Alfred John	2558	Sapper	Noyelles 2 August 1916	KIA
Holter, Thomas James	2568	Sapper	Noyelles 2 August 1916	KIA
Bailey, Arthur Henry	214	Sapper	Noyelles 1 September 1916	Died
Austen, Edward Jeffrey	3022	Sapper	Longueval 23 October 1916	KIA
Fenwick, Sydney George	456	Sapper	Longueval 23 October 1916	KIA
Wood, George	2661	Sapper	Longueval 23 October 1916	KIA
Homewood, George	2841	Sapper	Longueval 28 October 1916	KIA
Knight, Henry George	125	Sapper	Longueval 28 October 1916	KIA
Payne, Harry	385	Sapper	Longueval 28 October 1916	KIA
Da Costa, Antonio	400295	Sapper	Warlus 29 November 1916	KIA
Unit Re-Designated: 490^th (Home Counties) Field Company, R.E.
Johnson, Frederick	532091	Acting 2^nd Corporal	Littledale Dump 1 March 1917	KIA
Bray, Arthur	532680	Sapper	Littledale Dump 4 March 1917	KIA
Allcock, John William	532648	Sapper	Littledale Dump 20 March 1917	DOW
Bromige, H.W.	532446	Sapper	Brisbane Dump (Ypres) 4 July 1917	DOW
Webster, Walter	532013	Corporal	Brisbane Dump (Ypres) 7 July 1917	DOW
Davies, John William	552833	Sapper	Brisbane Dump (Ypres) 8 July 1917	DOW
Funnell, Charles George	532200	Sapper	Brisbane Dump (Ypres) 8 July 1917	DOW
Hemens, William	532058	2^nd Corporal	Brisbane Dump (Ypres) 8 July 1917	DOW
Taylor, William	532103	Sapper	Brisbane Dump (Ypres) 9 July 1917	KIA
Honeysett, William	532347	Sapper	Locknog 31 July 1917	KIA
Pearson, Augustus	534699	Sapper	Pilckem 31 July 1917	KIA
Baber, Alfred	532725	A/Lance Corporal	Pilckem 1 August 1917	DOW
Bryan, Cecil Clive		Major	Dominion Camp, Pilckem, 2 August 1917	KIA
Baulcomb, W. F.	532173	Driver	Les Trois Pipes 16 September 1917	KIA
Knight, Frederick	532733	Sapper	Les Trois Pipes 18 September 1917	DOW
Burt, Cecil	532121	Sapper	Les Trois Pipes 1 October 1917	KIA
Smith, Robert	416158	Sapper	Rosieres 25 January 1918	KIA
Kent, George Herbert Stanton		Captain	Amiens 24 March 1918	KIA
Harffey, Albert	532031	Sergeant	Amiens 24 March 1918	KIA
Strike, Thomas William	230681	Sapper	Amiens 24 March 1918	KIA
Clark, Albert	534260	Sapper	Amiens 25 March 1918	KIA
Deal, William Richard	552810	A/Lance Corporal	Amiens 25 March 1918	KIA
Huntley, Sydney	241340	Sapper	Amiens 25 March 1918	KIA
Monckton, Alfred Edward	154596	Sapper	Amiens 25 March 1918	KIA
Smith, George Victor	532144	A/Lance Corporal	Amiens 25 March 1918	KIA
Stephens, Thomas J.	534664	Sapper	Amiens 25 March 1918	KIA
Wallis, James Percy	541676	Sapper	Amiens 25 March 1918	KIA
Day, Harold	532108	2^nd Corporal	Jumel 27 March 1918	KIA
Hurd, Ernest	532202	A/Lance Corporal	Jumel 27 March 1918	DOW
Reed, Ernest Arthur	532205	2^nd Corporal	Jumel 27 March 1918	KIA
Simmons, Thomas James	532412	Lance Corporal	Jumel 27 March 1918	DOW
Sheather, Tilden	532219	Sapper	Jumel 28 March 1918	KIA
Page, Albert	532118	A/2^nd Corporal	Amiens 12 April 1918	KIA
Fuller, Henry Arthur		Lieutenant	Tronville 19 April 1918	Died
Ewer, Frederick	532055	Lance Corporal	Seringes 7 May 1918	DOW
Black, Allan D.		Captain	Gernicourt 27 May 1918	KIA
Fenwick, Albert	532338	A/Lance Corporal	Gernicourt 27 May 1918	KIA
Holmes, Fred	476059	Sapper	Gernicourt 27 May 1918	KIA
Howell, Herbert	532183	Sapper	Gernicourt 27 May 1918	KIA
Ross, Adam	416227	Sapper	Gernicourt 27 May 1918	KIA
Walker, William A.	169580	Sapper	Gernicourt 27 May 1918	KIA
Campbell, David	404318	Sapper	Grand Bel Lay Wood 27 May 1918	KIA
Gerrard, Valentine	434161	Sapper	Grand Bel Lay Wood 27 May 1918	KIA
Sheppard, Percy Arthur	532390	Sapper	Vandeuil 28 May 1918	KIA
Avard, Harry	532735	Sapper	Moslins 1 June 1918	KIA
Crossley, James Brierley	224657	Sapper	Givry-Lez-Loizy 3 June 1918	DOW
Newbury, Thomas	385809	Sapper	Givry-Lez-Loizy 4 June 1918	DOW
Dobson, William Thomas	204154	Sapper	Givry-Lez-Loizy 9 June 1918	DOW
Tough, Harry	402816	Sapper	Linthes 10 June 1918	DOW
Prescott, Albert	204190	Sapper	St. Quentin Lamotte 24 June 1918	Died
Funnell, Herbert Walter	178205	Sapper	St. Quentin 1 July 1918	Died
Ross, R.	434121	Sapper	Berthonval Farm 25 July 1918	KIA
Hayward, Frederick S.	532426	Sapper	Raches 22 October 1918	DOW

1. KIA = killed in action; DOW = died of wounds; Died, indicates that the individual died of disease or as the result of an accident.

2. Men in the original 1^st Home Counties Field Company had regimental numbers beginning with 1 and going sequentially to more than 3000. In February of 1917 when the designation of the company was changed to the 490^th (Home Counties) Field Company, the regimental numbers of the men then in the company were changed and were given to them in a block from 532000 to 532999.

3. Any man in the 490^th Field Company with a regimental number not in the range of 532000 to 532999 before or after February 1917 was a replacement posted to the company to bring it back up to strength, either as a new enlistee or as a transfer from another unit.

4. The company served as one of the divisional field companies of the 8^th Division during the war along with the 2^nd and 15^th Field Companies. The 2^nd and 15^th were Regular Army units while the 490^th was a Territorial Army unit.

5. 456 Sapper Sydney George Fenwick and 532338 Acting Lance Corporal Albert Fenwick were brothers. Sydney and Albert were born in Christchurch, Hampshire and both men enlisted in Eastbourne, Sussex. They were the sons of Frederick and Mary Ann Fenwick, of 41, Seaford Rd., Eastbourne. The medals and Memorial Plaques of both of these men are in the author’s collection.

6. The large number of casualties suffered by the company between the 24^th and 28^th of March 1918 was the result large German spring offensive in the St. Quentin and Rosieres areas.

7. The large number of casualties suffered by the company between the 27^th of May and the 9^th of June was the result of the Battle of the Aisne.

8. Major C.C. Bryan, officer commanding the company, was killed by the direct hit of a German aerial bomb that was dropped on a hut he was occupying in Dominion Camp near Ypres.

Sappers and Drivers (52) accounted for 74.3% of the casualties. Junior non-commissioned officers (Corporals to Acting Lance Corporals – 13) accounted for 18.6% of the casualties and officers and senior non-commissioned officers (4) accounted for 7.1% of the deaths.

The information in this addendum was provided by Diane Rosemary Askwith, the granddaughter of Charles David Riddel. Her father is Colin Orkney Askwith and her mother was Barbara Jean Askwith (née Riddel). Diane Asquith and her brother Christopher Ian Askwith provided the information below in the form of photographs and oral family history. The comments in italics are the authors and not those of Diane Askwith. They are presented to expand on her comments but they must be taken as supposition in some cases.

Figure A1. Back row: Diane Rosemary Askwith and her father Colin Orkney Askwith.
Front row (l. to r.): Christopher Ian Askwith, Winifred Riddel and Charles David Riddel. (Photograph courtesy of Diane Askwith)

1. This photograph is of Charles David and Winifred Riddel with their two grandchildren, Christopher and Diane and their son-in-law Colin. According to Diane, the photograph above may have been taken at Bodley Road, New Malden, Surrey where the family was living at the time. Diane thought that her father had served in the London Scottish and then the Parachute Regiment as an instructor during World War 2. However, the Supplement to the London Gazette, dated 12 March 1941, page 1500, shows one Colin Orkney Askwith (Army Number 176430) as a Cadet in an Officer Candidate Training Unit being commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Gordon Highlanders. Furthermore, the Supplement to the London Gazette, dated 12 October 1943, page 4502, shows Lieutenant Colin Orkney Askwith, A.A.C. (Army Number 53076) in the Royal Air Force General Duties Branch, posted as a Platoon Officer on employment with the R.A.F. effective the 4^th of September 1943. The Supplement to the London Gazette, dated 4 April 1944, page 1538, shows him returning to duty with the Army Air Corps (A.A.C.) on the 31^st of January 1944. Colin Askwith also had served in Palestine.

· 2. The possibility exists that Charles David Riddel did some undercover work during one of the World Wars. He was fluent in Russian and Spanish and possibly in French and German as well.

One might assume that he had learned French and German during the Great War. Unfortunately the non-availability of his service papers in the Army Personnel Centre (APC) makes it impossible to verify this information.

3. Diane Askwith thinks that Charles David Riddel had a metal plate in one leg, possibly as a result of a vehicle crash during the war. Her brother Christopher, however, thinks that he had been shot in the leg.

If his injury was the result of an accident it probably would have occurred during World War 2. If he had been shot in the leg, that most likely would have been during the Great War. Again the absence of his Medical History in his service papers at the APC makes this difficult, if not impossible to determine how and when this wound was received. A review of the War Diary of the 83^rd Field Company, R.E. found no mention of him being wounded during his time in the unit.

4. As a child Charles David Riddel’s family lived in Barcelona where his father’s company, J & M Coats also had a factory. Coats was one of the first businesses to go global in the modern sense, having developed manufacturing plants in many countries, starting in the United States (Newark, New Jersey and Pawtucket, Rhode Island). At one point Coats was the third largest company in the world and had 90 percent of the thread sales in Russia.

Riddel’s knowledge of Spanish may have come from his childhood years in Spain.

5. During World War 2 Charles David Riddel was in charge of an internment camp near Oldham, Lancashire.

This would have been the Glen Mill Prisoner of War Camp. The camp previously had been an old cotton mill. Glen Mill was one of the main POW camps in the north and west of England during the war. It was situated between Wellyhole Street/Constantine Street and the River Medlock at Lees in Oldham. His service at Glen Mill would correlate with him being in a Home Service Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, as service in POW camps was one of the duties performed by Home Service Battalions. It is most likely that he served in the 6^th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, as this battalion was formed in 1939 as a Home Defence Battalion. The unit subsequently was renamed the 30^th Home Defence Battalion in 1941 and was disbanded in 1943. Since Riddel left the regiment to be “specially employed” in 1943, this also would correlate with the year that the 30^th Home Defence Battalion was disbanded and he was posted to other duties.

Figure A1-1. German Prisoners of War Repairing a Barbed Wire Fence at Glen Mill.

Figure A1-2. German Prisoners of War Taking Vegetables from the Prison Garden to the Prison Compound.

· 6. After the Second World War Charles David Riddel worked for Shell Oil and lived in northeast Spain, possibly in Valencia.

· 7. In the mid-1960s, Riddel went to live in South Wales where other family members were living. He died in Lancashire, perhaps during a visit to see one of his sisters.

REFERENCES

3. 3. Army List, 1939. Territorial Army Reserve of Officers, National Defence Companies, p. 3502

12. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970 for Ian McGill Riddel, 1944, February, Vol. II.

1. Battle Honours of the Royal Engineers. The Royal Engineers Journal. The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1925-1932.

3. 3. BORASTON, J.H. and BAX, C.E.O. The Eighth Division in War, 1914-1918. The Medici Society Limited, London, 1926.

4. 4. CHICHESTER, H.M. and BURGES-SHORT, G. Records and Badges of the British Army. Gale and Polden, Ltd., Aldershot, 1900, p. 778.

5. 5. Glasgow Academy Roll of Honour, 1914-1918. Jackson, Wylie & Co., Glasgow, 1933, p. 120.

6. 6. History of the Corps of Royal Engineers. Volume V. The Home Front, France, Flanders and Italy in the First World War. The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1952.

7. 7. MORLING, L.F. (editor). SUSSEX SAPPER: A History of the Sussex Volunteer and Territorial Army Royal Engineer Units from 1890 to 1967. W.J. Offord & Son, Ltd., date unknown.

2. 2. War Diary of the 490^th (Home Counties) Field Company, Royal Engineers, 1914-1919.

England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976 for Charles Robert Riddel (2 September 1943).

[1] Army Personnel Centre, Support Division, re: D/APC/HD/DESK 8/335112, dated 7 November 2017.

[2] 1891 Scotland Census.

[3] This house no longer exists. There is a park on the site of the building.

[4] Dunoon is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in the south of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is on the west shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan.

[5] The site of this address now contains a modern apartment building.

[6] The Genealogist Family Tree and the Family Tree Forum web sites.

[7] Riddel Family Tree.

[8] His assignment to the 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company is based on two sources; the entry in the Glasgow Academy Roll of Honour and the London Gazette of 15 October 1915. The Glasgow Academy source is very specific with regard to the company. The London Gazette only states that he was commissioned and posted to the Home Counties Divisional Engineers. Research done by Richard Crawford of the Westchester Medal Verification and Research Service indicates that Riddel served in the 1^st Home Counties Field Company, although Crawford does not cite his source.

[9] First line Territorial units; hence the designation 1/1^st .

[10] Corps History, p. 208.

[11] The Long Long Trail: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/definitions-of-units/composition-royal-engineers-field-company/

[12] Died 9 June 1920.

[13] The Commander Royal Engineers (C.R.E.) of the 8^th Division at this time was Lieutenant Colonel P.G. Grant, R.E.

[14] BORASTON and BAX, pp. 46 and 53.

[15] Corps History, p. 250.

[16] An R.E. Dump was a storage area for supplies and equipment used by the Royal Engineers in the field.

[17] MORLING, p. 26

[18] Besides the 1/1^st Home Counties Field Company, the other engineer field companies in the 8^th Division were the 2^nd and the 15^th .

[19]The decauville tramway made use of ready-made sections of light, narrow gauge track fastened to steel sleepers; this track was portable and could be disassembled and transported very easily. The Decauville system had become a military standard and the French and British eventually built thousands of miles of trench railways track. The Germans had a similar system, with normalized engines

[20] Army Lists June 1919 and December 1920 and the London Gazette, 1 November 1917.

[21] MORLING, p. 26.

[22] Corps History, p. 280.

[23] Stuart Underwood Baily was subsequently promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and was killed in action on the 15^th of September 1918.

[24] Lieutenant Kennedy subsequently rose to the rank of Captain.

[25] BORASTON and BAX, pp. 141 and 142.

[26] Lance Corporal Fenwick is the man with the bandolier standing behind and over the right shoulder of the seated sergeant in front of him. This appears to be a photograph of a full section of the company complete with its officer and non-commissioned officers. The identity of the officer is not known, but he is probably one of the officers mentioned in the narrative. Both Albert and Sydney George Fenwick bear a striking resemblance to each other and could easily have been recognized as brothers.

[27] Raivola was before 1948, an urban locality in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, and a station on the Saint Petersburg-Vyborg railroad. The name of the house may refer to Riddel’s father’s connection with Russia.

[28] Army List, 1939, p. 3502.

[29] Army List, 1942, p. 3422.

[30] Army List, 1945, p. 1421.

[31] All of the items listed in the table are in the author's collection.

[32] Family Tree Forum.

2. EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION

Date of Promotion or Appointment

Date of Appointment

APPENDIX B
Fatalities in the 490^th Field Company, Royal Engineers in France and Flanders During the Great War of 1914-1918
(in order by date of death)
**Prepared from data obtained from the company War Diary, Soldiers Died in the Great War, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.**

REFERENCES

12. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970 for Ian McGill Riddel, 1944, February, Vol. II.

England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976 for Charles Robert Riddel (2 September 1943).

2. EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION

Date of Promotion or Appointment

Date of Appointment

APPENDIX B Fatalities in the 490th Field Company, Royal Engineers in France and Flanders During the Great War of 1914-1918 (in order by date of death) Prepared from data obtained from the company War Diary, Soldiers Died in the Great War, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

REFERENCES

12. UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970 for Ian McGill Riddel, 1944, February, Vol. II.

England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976 for Charles Robert Riddel (2 September 1943).

APPENDIX B
Fatalities in the 490^th Field Company, Royal Engineers in France and Flanders During the Great War of 1914-1918
(in order by date of death)
**Prepared from data obtained from the company War Diary, Soldiers Died in the Great War, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.**