Until the day break and the shadows flee away
Son of Walter A. A. and Anne Siddle, of 19, North View, Blackhill, Co. Durham.
Paul Heatherington has submitted the following:-
Matthew was born in October 1894 in Blackhill. He was the third child of Walter Alexander Anderson Siddle, a house painter from Shotley Bridge, and Annie (née Snowdon) born in Benfieldside. His siblings were Frances, Jessie and Norman. The family home was at 19 North View.
In 1911, Matthew was working as an iron weigher in the iron works.
Matthew enlisted on the 5th September 1914. At the age of nineteen, he was 5’ 6’’ tall and weighed 8 stone. His chest measurement was 35 inches. He had grey eyes, dark brown hair and a fair complexion. It was noted that he was a Baptist.
Matthew served as a Private in the Durham Light Infantry. He was killed in action in France on the 18th July 1916, at the age of twenty-one. He was buried in the Serre Road Cemetery No. 2.
Matthew William Siddle is remembered at Blackhill on B145.02 and at Shotley Bridge on S27.03
He is also remembered in The DLI Book of Remembrance page 186
