Photo: W.P. Richardson
Photo: John and Mavis Dixon
who died in France
Aug. 26th 1918, aged 22 years.
W.P. Richardson, great-nephew to Sidney Rudkin, has supplied the following:
Sidney (or Sydney, depending on which record you look at) was the third child and only son of Jane Gilliland and her husband John Rudkin. He was born in the last quarter of 1895 and his birth was registered in the Auckland Registration District.
The census of 1901 recorded Sidney as aged 5 and living with his family at Church Hill, Helmington Row, Crook. His Dad was a 47 year old coal miner and his Mam was 37. Sidney had two older sisters, Hannah (16) and Florence (15).
By the time of the 1911 census the family had moved, they were living at Belle View, Wheatbottom, Crook. Sidney's Dad was still working in the pit, his older sister Hannah had married and left home but his other sister Florence lived with the family. Sidney was 15 in 1911 and was working for his living as an errand boy for a chemists.
Sidney served in WW1. His service record has survived, though its damaged and faded. He had his medical examination at Sunderland and that record shows that he was 20 years and 7 months old, worked as a 'druggist', was five feet 3 inches tall, weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds and had a chest measurement of thirty four and a half inches. His physical development was recorded as 'good' and he was declared fit for general service.
He enlisted on 19th April 1916, as a Private in The Durham Light Infantry and was given the service number 31790. He gave his next of kin as his father: John Rudkin, 6 Belle Vue, Wheatbottom, Crook. By July 1916 he was in France. His record says that on 31st March 1918 he suffered a shrapnel wound and was in hospital for fifteen days. In June 1918 he was acting unpaid Lance Corporal and was promoted to Corporal in August 1918.
Sidney died on 26th August 1918 from wounds received in battle. He was awarded the Victory and British Medals.
Sidney has been remembered in various places. His name, along with those of other young men who died, was inscribed on the war memorial at Helmington Row, on a Rood Plaque in St Catherine's Church in Crook and his family had a stained glass window inscribed to his memory in the Dawson St. United Reformed Methodist Church in Crook. The inscription on the window reads:
In loving memory of Corporal Sidney Rudkin, 15th D.L.I.
who died on 26th August 1918 from wounds received in action on the 24th.
Erected by his loving Father, Mother and Sisters.
When Sidney's father died in 1925, there was a headstone erected on his grave and a memorial for Sidney was added. That reads:
Also Sidney, their beloved son, who died in France August/26/1918 aged 22 years
Sidney Rudkin is remembered at Crook on C121.13 and C121.03 and in Helmington Row on H138.01
