People on board

SINGLETON, Sidney

Sidney Singleton was born on the 1st of April 1900 in Manchester to William Singleton and Minnie Howarth. He was the second of their five children, one of whom died in infancy. In the 1901 census William Singleton gave his occupation as ‘Calender’ – using a machine to press and finish fabric or paper, but in 1911 he was a Labourer. The family lived in 13 Springfield in the Crumpsall area of Manchester.

In August 1914 at the age of thirty-nine, and giving his religion as Wesleyan, William Singleton enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery. In March 1915 Minnie Singleton applied for an allowance for her fourteen year old child Sidney, saying that she was already receiving an allowance for herself and two younger children. She gave William’s address as ‘29th Company, Horse land Park, Spithead’. His military record shows that he was in England until June 1916 and was then with the British Expeditionary Force in France, but the end date is blotted out. He was discharged in March 1919.

It is not known when Sidney Singleton enlisted in the Cheshire Regiment, but it was probably late in 1918 as his Soldiers’ Effects record indicates that he was not eligible for the War Gratuity which was based on length of service. In October 1918 he was with the 52nd Graduated Battalion, a training and reserve battalion based at Keane Barracks in the Curragh Camp in Ireland.

Whether he was returning home on leave or to be mobilised, he travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th of October. He did not survive the sinking nor was his body recovered. His name is recorded on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton and on the memorial at St Thomas’s Church in Crumpsall.