Dawlish World War One Project

It is not known when Sidney enlisted at Exeter with the First Devons. This was one of the permanent battalions of the Devonshire Regiment that left its posting in Jersey, the Channel Islands and was sent to France on 21st August 1914.
On arrival they were reinforced by around 500 reservists from Exeter. The Medal Rolls Index Cards shows that Sidney Charles Lucas arrived in France on 20 September 1914, and so may have been among those reservists.

In September 1914, during their first spell in the line, they suffered 100 casualties from shelling. In October on the La Bassee Canal they supported the badly mauled 1st Dorsets and helped capture Givenchy Ridge. The Devons performed well during a bitter three-week battle but lost two thirds of their officers and a third of their men. From November they occupied Messines Ridge in rain and sleet, often knee- or waist-deep in mud and icy water.

On 21st April 1915 they occupied Hill 60, which had been captured on 17th April. Counter-attacks and heavy shelling cost them more than 200 casualties.
On 31st July 1915 they moved to the Somme.

When the Somme offensive began on 1st July 1916 the Devons were at Arras but returned to the Somme, to consolidate the line around Longueval. Shellfire and German counter-attacks cost them 265 casualties. In September they made two very successful advances near Guillemont at a cost of 376 casualties. (keepmilitarymuseum.org)

Sidney Charles Lucas was the youngest child of William Henry Lucas (1852-1933) and Emily Brown (1857-1895).
William Henry Lucas was one of six children of Cephas and Eliza Lucas who were living in a cottage at Ashcombe in 1861.
William Henry Lucas and Emily Brown married in 1879 and had six children, all born in Dawlish; Henry James (Harry)(1879-1947), Emily Daisy (1881-1960), Maud Louisa (1884-1909), William (1886- ), Edith Beatrice (1889-1960) and Sidney Charles (1892-1916).
Their father was variously shown as an agricultural labourer and a domestic gardener. Their mother died in 1895 at the age of 38, when Sidney was three years old.

The family had been living in Manor Row, Dawlish in 1881 but moved to Chapel Street (No 14 in 1891). In 1901 William Henry Lucas was living at No 13 Chapel Street with all of his children.

Henry James Lucas married Elizabeth Pearce of Dawlish in Q3, 1907 and they lived at 3 Chapel Street, Dawlish while he was a mason's labourer. In the 1911 census Sidney Charles Lucas is living with them and working as a general labourer.