ALFRED JOHN HAROLD RYDER WIDDOWSON
30 December 1893 - 25 August 1914
At School 1902 - 1903
2nd Lieut 2nd South Lancashire Regt
Alfred, known as Harold, was born in Manchester, but it appears that his mother must have died of complications regarding the birth as her death and Harold's birth are both recorded in the first quarter of 1894. The 1891 census shows father Alfred John, an engineer, and mother Jane living, newly married, at 130 Hulton Street Moss Side. In 1901, Harold, aged 7 was a boarder at a school in Pilkington Road, Southport. Alfred John remarried in 1902 to Jane's sister, Alice, and it is likely that Harold then returned home. Harold joined the School in 1902 and on leaving a year later went on to Manchester Grammar School and then in 1908 to Sedbergh School, Cumbria. Alfred John sadly died in 1911. On leaving Sedbergh in 1912, Harold went to Manchester University to read Mechanical Engineering and joined the University OTC. On 2 July 1913 he was appointed Second Lieutenant, on probation, to the South Lancashire Regiment, Special Reserve of Officers. In February 1914 his appointment was confirmed. On the outbreak of war the Special Reserve was mobilised and Harold proceeded to France on 14 August 1914, with
the 2nd South Lancashire Battalion, part of the 7th Brigade, 3rd Division.
By 22 August, the four infantry divisions and one cavalry division of the British Expeditionary Force had taken up their positions just across the Belgian border, some
miles south of Mons, on the extreme left of the Allied line. The Battalion history states: " After several hours of intense fighting against overwhelming odds, the B.E.F. were forced to retire from their positions covering the Mons -Conde Canal to avoid being outflanked. the retreat from Mons had commenced. Throughout the 24th and 25th August, in gruelling heat and along roads encumbered with transport and refugees, the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion marched slowly southward, not understanding this retirement when they had succeeded so well in beating off the onslaught of an enemy far superior in numbers and artillery. On these days the Battalion had the honour of covering the withdrawal of the 7th Infantry Brigade, which had been detailed as rearguard to the 3rd Division, and right well it carried out its task; notably at Solesmes on the evening of 25th August, when, in conjunction with the 1st Bn. The Wiltshire Regiment, the German pursuit, on this part of the front, was brought to a standstill". Harold was reported
missing during this action and it was only later that his death was assumed. An article in the Manchester Evening News on 18 July 1916 sums up the hopes and fears of relatives of those reported missing at the front. Headed "Missing Manchester Officer" it states: "At the Chancery Court in Manchester, today, Vice-Chancellor Stewart Smith K.C., was asked to decide whether there was sufficient evidence of the death of Alfred John Harold Ryder Widdowson, a second lieutenant in the South Lancashire Regiment, who went to France at the
commencement of the war. On September 3, 1914, his mother received a telegram from the War Office stating that he was reported missing.There was a subsequent report that he was killed, and the records of the War Office state that he was killed in action in France or Belgium on September 10, 1914. He was the only son of Mr A J Widdowson, of Carlton House, Wilbraham Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and his death involves a change in the disposal of his father's estate. Mr Radford said that there was evidence that while his regiment was retiring Mr Widdowson was severely wounded and left behind in a farmhouse, An explosion was subsequently observed in that direction. The Vice-Chancellor observed that, happily, men who had been missing and wounded
men sometimes turned up again. He adjourned
the matter in order that
additional evidence might be
procured." Unhappily Harold
was not one of those men. It is likely that his body was found by the Germans and he is buried in the Communal Churchyard in Briastre, a village 5 miles North West of Le Cateau, the only grave of a British serviceman in the cemetery.