Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

William Tweeddale Saidler - Lieutenant

This page is dedicated to the memory of William Tweeddale Saidler who died on 26th March 1918 in France.

William Tweeddale Saidler was born in 1896 in Edinburgh, Scotland and he died on 26th March 1918 in France, one of the many millions of men who lost their lives in World War 1. It seemed sad for him to have died and all but these bare facts remembered, so I've tried to find out at least a little about his life until his untimely death aged just 21.

William Tweeddale Saidler was born on 16th November 1896 at Eyre Crescent in Edinburgh. He was the 2nd of 3 children born to Thomas William Saidler and his wife Ann Isabella Tweeddale. At the time of William's birth, his father was said to be a cashier.

In 1901 the family were still living Eyre Crescent; Thomas was still a cashier and they now had their 3rd child Jeannie. The family must have been reasonably well off as they had one female general servant living with them. By 1911 Thomas Saidler was described as a solicitor, suggesting they'd gone up in the world, although the family were still in Eyre Crescent. The three children were still at school and they still had one general servant. The table below gives a transcription from the 1911 census.

So in 1911 William was still at school; from later newspaper reports it seems he went to George Watson's College - a private school in Edinburgh. According to the school's website William was there from 1903 (aged 7) to 1913 (aged 17). The school website also says he enlisted almost as soon as war broke out, signing up in August 1914 when he was still only 17. Initially he joined the Royal Scots as a Private. But he had been in the OTC, which helped him get a commission with the Forth Royal Garrison Artillery, reaching the level of Captain. Although in theory the Royal Garrison Artillery was a coastal defence unit, many of the men were sent to siege batteries in France. His school website seemed to think William was one of these, but his medal card suggests otherwise and that perhaps he spent the first half of the war in the UK.

William continued to serve in the RGA until 1917 when spurred on by an interest in aeronautics he joined 59 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. Initially he was stationed in Reading and then Winchester until at least December 1917. He qualified as an Observer in April 1918. To join the RFC he'd had to revert to the rank of Lieutenant. As an Observer his duties were probably mainly reconnaissance - perhaps including photography - of the enemy lines. Sadly just a few weeks after qualifying as an Observer, William was killed (along with 2nd Lieutenant J R Aikins), when his plane was shot down during a bombing raid near Baupaume.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website confirmed that William was a Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps and that he was buried in the Warlencourt British Cemetery in France. I can't reproduce the CWGC photo of the cemetery, but to see his page please click here

You can now look at the Medal Roll cards from the first world war online. These show a soldier's name, rank and what medals they were entitled to. Due to copyright issues, I don't think I can reproduce the image of the medal card, so instead I've transcribed it.

The medal card indicates William would have been entitled to 2 medals. The British Medal was awarded to servicemen who served in a theatre of war between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918. The Victory Medal (Allied Victory Medal) was awarded for service in any operational theatre over the same time frame. The 1915 Star was awarded to all those who served in any theatre of war against Germany between 5th August 1914 and 31st December 1915. Since William's medal card doesn't include reference to this, he probably stayed in the UK during 1914 and 1915. Remarkably his medals and his "Death Penny" are still in the family today.

William was initially reported missing, presumed killed. I've not managed to find anything to confirm it, but I imagine his aeroplane (an R.E.8 biplane) was shot down. William Saidler's death was reported in the local newspaper (The Scotsman) in May 1918. Image © National World Publishing Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

William is buried in the Warlencourt British Cemetery in France. There is a photo of his grave on the Imperial War Museums website (© IWM).

Although William's final resting place is now clear, he was initially buried as an "Unknown British Officer of the RAF". At some point his body must have been identified and he was reburied in 1920. His father wrote several letters to the Ministry trying to find out what happened to his son and where he was buried, until it was finally resolved in 1921. They were allowed to add an inscription for this grave and his mother chose the words "Ex Corde Caritas" which means Love from the Heart and was his school motto and "The Whole Earth is Their Tomb".

William is also remembered back home Edinburgh St Giles Cathedral on a plaque for members of the Forth Royal Garrison Artillery who died in WW1. His name is also listed on the grave of his parents in Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh.

The photo from the top of this page is from the school website. Thanks to his nephew James, I now have this fantastic photo of William (standing) with his father Thomas (sitting on left) and brother James (or Hamish as he was known).

In researching William's final days, several sites have been invaluable, so I've included links to some of them here.

The official Government source of genealogical data for Scotland:

The British Newspaper Archive:

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is a great site to start with to give you the basic details you would need to then start digging deeper:

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

© Nicky Rowberry 2023

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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry