PERCY TIDMARSH was serving as a Corporal in the 1st Battalion, The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry when he died on board the hospital ship Syria, of wounds or illness, on the 11th December 1915. He was 25 and was buried at sea, being commemorated on the Basra Memorial in Iraq. He was the son of James and Susan Tidmarsh of Great Rollright, they later moved to Blenhiem Cottage, Hook Norton where Percy worked as a carter. 

He joined the 1st Ox and Bucks in Mesopotamia on the 5th December 1914. The Battalion, as part of the 6th Poona Division, moved from India to Mesopotamia in November 1914. They took part in the march towards Kut-al-Amara with the intention of capturing it from the Ottomans. The battle for Kut began on 26 September and raged for a number of days until the Ottomans went into retreat and Kut was captured on 28th September 1915. The battalion then took part in the Battle of Ctesiphon in the effort to capture the capital, Baghdad, which ended in the 6th Poona Division being defeated by the Ottoman forces. 635 officers and men of the battalion fought in the battle of Ctesiphon and 304 became casualties. The Division subsequently retreated to Kut, reaching it on 3 December 1915, where it was besieged by the Ottomans, beginning on 7 December, with a garrison of 10,000 Britons and Indians. The Ottomans launched numerous attempts to take Kut, all of which were repulsed by the defenders, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. The British tried desperately to relieve Kut, but failed, suffering heavy losses.

Steve Kingsford