World War 1
Search the known records to date of those lost from the wider Alnwick area in World War 1
Generally showing where they are commemorated, when they died and some basic facts about each person. There are gaps, however, so if you can fill in any missing details do please contact us.
William Robert Ridley
Forename(s):
William Robert
Surname:
Ridley
Initial(s):
W R
Service Number:
Officer
Rank:
Major
Regiment:
Serbian Red Cross
Died:
03/11/1914
Buried:
Unknown
Service History:
Within a month of the outbreak of war, Ridley left to take charge of a field hospital in Serbia, a member of the British Red Cross Mission to Serbia.
He was the first man from the wider Rothbury district to die in WW1, in his case from an attack of dysentery.
Many tributes were paid to him, noting his ability & great promise, besides his genial & kindly disposition. After his death, his parents received 'a striking eulogy of his work & high devotion to duty' from the Serbian Government.
(Source: 'The Valley Remembers'; Edited by Sandy Hunter; Upper Coquetdale WW1 Project; 2014; p. 43)
Background:
Born in 1881, at Rothbury, Northumberland, the eldest son of John Ridley (a Bank Clerk in Burleigh House, the Rothbury Branch of Hodgkin, Barnet, Pease, Spence & Co., a private bank), by his wife, Mary Catherine, daughter of Robert & Sarah Jane Farrage, Chemist & Bank Manager.
Ridley had three younger brothers.
He studied medicine at Edinburgh. After graduating M.B., C.h.B (Edin.), Ridley held appointments in Leith & Sunderland Infirmaries, & at the Newcastle upon Tyne Dispensary.
(Source: 'The Valley Remembers'; Edited by Sandy Hunter; Upper Coquetdale WW1 Project; 2014; p. 43)
Local Memorial:
Rothbury War Memorial