If you can add any information about this soldier, please use the comment form at the bottom of this page.
If you would like to be informed of any additions or amendments to The Great War Project, please join our Facebook group.
The Great War Project navigation
Overview A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P R S T W
Robert Frederick Sidebotham
29622, Private, 20th The King’s (Liverpool Regiment)
Killed in action, 12 October 1916, aged 28
No known grave (Thièpval Memorial, Somme, France)
CWGC registered (Son of Frederick Robert and Florence Harvey Sidebotham, of 2, King’s Rd, Llandudno, Carnarvonshire)
Robert Frederick Sidebotham was born in Worcestershire on 4 August 1888. He was the son of Frederick Robert Sidebotham and Florence Harvey Sidebotham (née Rickaby). Details of Robert’s early life are scarce though the register of St. George’s National School, Llandudno listed him as a pupil there in 1899. The Census of Wales for 1901 records Robert and his father boarding at 6 Jubilee Street, Llandudno – Frederick was an ironmonger’s assistant and Robert (12) a schoolboy. The record indicated Frederick Sidebotham as being married but the whereabouts of Florence Sidebotham remains unknown. Ten years later, Robert (22) boarded at “The Nest”, Penrhyn Bay: he was described as a conductor on the electric tramway. The same census recorded his father as living at 2 King’s Road, Llandudno – again, he is recorded as being married. Clearly Robert’s parents had split for a 1911 census return records his mother, as Florence Harvey Rickaby, living alone in a flat in London.
Robert Sidebotham volunteered to join the army at Colwyn Bay, probably in May or June 1915. He joined The King’s (Liverpool Regiment) with a regimental number of 29622. Soldiers with close numbers were in the depot companies of the four City (Service) Battalions (17th-20th) which in August 1915 amalgamated into the 21st and 22nd (Reserve) Battalions at Knowsley Park. The four City Battalions, including the 20th, disembarked in France in November 1915 – Robert joined the 20th as a reinforcement, probably at the end of March 1916.
Robert Sidebotham was killed in action near Eaucourt l’Abbaye during the Battle of the Somme on 12 October 1916 aged 28. He has no known grave.
Known memorials:
- Thièpval Memorial, Somme, France
- Llandudno Roll of Honour
- Llandudno War Memorial
- Memorial Chapel, Holy Trinity Church, Llandudno
Leave a Reply