Lance Corporal Herbert Percy Sydney Lyddall was born in Chichester Barracks, Sussex, on 22nd December 1888, the second of 8 children. His father George, who had taken part in the attempted rescue of Gordon from Khartoum, was a Colour Sergeant in the 4th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment at the time. Herbert joined the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment shortly after his 18th birthday. He was posted to Belfast within a year, where he met and married Jeannie Brown. They had 5 children: George, Edith, James, Mary & Henry.  When the Battalion left Ireland in 1912, he moved into the Reserves.

He re-joined the battalion in France in August 1914. He was returned to England in February 1915 suffering from Typhoid, and after treatment was posted to the 3rd Battalion, a training Battalion based in Sussex. He volunteered to return to the front in November 1917, joining the 7th Battalion in France on the 9th. He was posted missing during the Battle of Cambrai, after 2 actions near Banteux on the 25th November which are described in the official Regimental history as taking place in dreadful weather after a weak barrage, when German machine-guns inflicted heavy losses. His widow took to her bed for a month when she heard the news. His body was not recovered, and he was declared dead after a year.

His son James joined the Royal Sussex Regiment and served in North Africa and Italy during World War 2. Jeannie passed away in 1973, survived by only James & Henry.

I’m Herbert & Jeannie’s great-grandson, through their daughter Mary. I remember Jeannie telling me 2 things: about Herbert so that I would know him, and that you don’t die until the last person who knows you dies. So I’ve told my children and now I’m telling you.

David Morrow