Sidney Elder – Trinity School War Memorial

Sidney Elder

Key Information

Name: Sidney Elder

DoB:

Regt:

Sergeant

1091022, 77 Sqdn., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

DoD:

22/11/1943 21

Buried: CARLISLE (STANWIX) CEMETERY 27^th November 1943

Academic Career: Carlisle Grammar School 1933-38

Other: Underwood Commercial College. Worked with Messrs Osborne, Seed Merchants, Bank Street, Carlisle.

Biographical Information

Family Background

Family Background:

Sidney was the son of a police constable, William John and Jane Victoria Isobel Elder, of Longtown. He grew up living at the Police Station, Mossband, Gretna.

Less than eight weeks after Sidney was killed, his brother Thomas Wilfred (Wilf), a navigator with 97 Squadron (pathfinder) was killed. As his aircraft was lost at sea he has no known grave. A third brother, William, who served as ground crew, survived the war, but the boys’ mother and sister never recovered from their loss.
Academic Record
War Record

War Service: Sidney was in the RAF as a wireless operator and air gunner. In 1943 Sidney was based at Elvington outside York. On the night of 22^nd/23^rd November he was returning from a raid over Berlin when his Halifax 4 engine heavy bomber collided with another aircraft coming into land at Pocklington. All 14 crew from both aircraft were killed outright. As aircrew formed their own teams, it meant, sadly, that a friend of Sidney’s, Sidney Tweddle, also from Carlisle and a former pupil of the Creighton School, was also killed as he was the wireless operator and air gunner. The crew had trained at Kinross: the pilot was a Dubliner called Charles Cornelius Lineham. Sidney and Sidney shared a double funeral. The service was conducted by the Revd. Bancroft, who three days before had buried his own son Arthur. All three are buried at the Kingstown Road Stanwix Cemetery. Sidney is also commemorated in the Book of Remembrance in York Minster, and in the Town Hall, Carlisle.
Other
Sources