SIDNEY HERBERT BLACKMORE was born on the 29th. September 1866 at Union Street, Clevedon, Somerset and was one of seven sons born to James and Louisa Sarah Blackmore (nee Reeves). Between 1891 and 1911 he had been variously employed as a Post Office Clerk and Telegraphist. He married Charlotte Maria Evans of Pimlico, London on the 27th. September 1891 at St. Philip & St. Jacob, Bristol. In the 1901 Census Sidney and Charlotte were residing at 3, Elm Road, Horfield, Bristol. By 1911 the family had moved to 17, Monk Road, Bishopston, Bristol . He had previously served in the old 3rd. Volunteer Battalion, Glos. Regiment which was formed in 1900 prior to the 1908 Haldane Reforms and then enlisted as Private 192 when it became the 6th. (Territorial Force) Gloucestershire Regiment. All the soldiers of the Volunteer Battalions had to resign, and then, if they chose to do so, could re-enlist with their new Territorial Battalion.With his background as a telegraphist with the Post Office, he served at Battalion HQ in Whiteladies Road as a signaller. He was awarded the Territorial Efficiency Medal in 1913 for which a minimum of 12 years service and regular attendance at training camps was required (AO 120/1913). 

Given his age it is it seems likely that either Sidney had left the Glosters before war broke out on 28th. July 1914 or was rejected for active service on account of it. As he was 48 years of age at the outbreak of the war he would have exceeded the maximum age for recruitment by the Infantry but men who had previously served in the army could be accepted up to the age of 45 as long as they met the same criteria as for enlisted men. In all probability he joined the Royal Engineers under the Group Scheme. This allowed over age and skilled men to volunteer for service if they reported for duty if and when they were needed.

He was posted to the Signals Section of the Royal Engineers as a lineman which involved laying and repairing telephone and telegraph wires. The battlefield radio had not yet been developed so cabled telephones provided basic communications between units. He left for France and Flanders on 13th. November 1915 having enlisted in the Royal Engineers, almost certainly in February 1915, judging by his Royal Engineers service number of 74664..However, the most useful service record as far as tracing Sidney Blackmore’s career is concerned is that of 74686 Frederick Gore, whose movements were probably almost identical to those of Sidney Blackmore, although Frederick Gore went overseas a month before Sidney Blackmore. Frederick Gore enlisted in the Royal Engineers in Birmingham on 23rd February 1915. He was a telegraphist working for the Post Office at the time of enlistment. On 6th/7th October 1915 he was posted to France to join 4th Army H.Q. Signal Company, Royal Engineers. Sidney did not go overseas until 13th November 1915, to join the same unit, 4th Army H.Q. Signal Company. Frederick Gore remained in France with this unit until December 1915, it being transferred to the Salonika Front in January 1916. In May 1916 Frederick Gore was posted to the Aegean Islands (Salonika Force) being transferred on 9th May to the Mudros Signal Section on telegraphist and linemen’s duties. On 20th June 1916 his service record noted that he had been “appointed Acting Lance-Corporal vice 74664 Cpl. Blackmore (Deceased).”  

Mudros comprised a small Greek port on the Mediterranean island of Lemnos. It gained wartime significance with the determination of the Allies - chiefly the British and largely through the enthusiasm of Winston Churchill - in the early part of 1915 to attempt to seize control of the Dardanelles Straits, some 50km away. The harbour at Lemnos was certainly broad enough to sustain British and French warships, although it was recognised at an early stage that there was a potentially troublesome absence of suitable military facilities. Nonetheless Lemnos gained instant importance with the decision to place the port under British control, specifically in the form of Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss, who was handed a brief to prepare the then largely unused harbour for operations against the Dardanelles. . In the event Lemnos proved as problematic as expected with regard to facilities and supplies. Troops intended for Gallipoli were required to train in Egypt; similarly the port found it difficult to cope with casualties incurred during the ill-conceived Gallipoli campaign. Once the campaign was called off in evident failure at the close of 1915 Mudros' importance receded, although it remained the Allied base for the blockade of the Dardanelles for the duration of the war. Renewed fame arrived in late October 1918 when the armistice between Turkey and the Allies was signed at Mudros.

Avery large proportion of the island’s casualties were caused by the great heat, diarrhoea, malaria, enteric fever, insufficient supply of water and dysentery. The Front was not particularly active and for the first half of 1916 the troops spent most of their time fortifying and extending their trenches. Mudros provided an HQ for the campaigns against the Turkish army in Gallipoli and Salonika. Sidney would have spent most of his time maintaining contact between Army HQ at Mudros and the Divisions in the field before contracting meningitis which is an infection of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. This infection causes these membranes (the meninges) to become inflamed, which causes damage to the nerves and brain. He was taken to the nearby Lemnos Military Hospital foe treatment but 74664 Corporal S.H. Blackmore of the Royal Engineers eventually succumbed to his illness on 19th June 1916. He is buried in the Portianos Military Cemetery, Grave III, C. 339.

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David Blackmore