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26772 2nd Battalion, Essex Regiment
Sidney Buckle was born in 1888 in Mildenhall, Suffolk, the eldest of four children of Henry and Agnes Buckle. His father was a miller and the family lived at 4 Excelsior Villas in York Road, Sudbury. Sidney attended St. Gregory and St. Peter’s School and on leaving school was employed as a brewer’s clerk. He was a member of the Sudbury Conservative Club and his name was recorded on their Roll of Honour.
Sidney had moved to Maldon, Essex by the time he enlisted to serve with the Essex Regiment. The battalion which formed part of 12th Brigade, 4th Division saw action in the opening phase of the Battle of the Somme at the Battle of Albert (1–13 July 1916). The first day of the battle was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army with almost 60,000 missing, killed or wounded. The battalion had been transferred to Poperinghe in Belgium by late August. It is not known when in 1916 Sidney joined the battalion; he may have seen action in July or been one of the reinforcements that joined the battalion mid September when the battalion marched to from Saleux to Bertangles and Vaux. The battalion saw action at the Battle of Le Transloy (1–18 October 1916) in the final phase of the Battle of the Somme.
Sidney died on 20 October 1916. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. He was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
A Cross of Remembrance was laid at the Thiepval Memorial in April 2006 and April 2009.
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