Private Sidney Thomas Abell


Service Army Service No. 24766
Rank Private
Regiment:Devonshire Regt, 3rd Battn
Date of Birth: 1890
Born Torrington
Date of Death: 01/02/1919
Memorial: Dawlish Memorial Inscription ABELL S.T. PTE. DEVON REGT

Service History

There are few notes regarding the service history of Sidney Thomas Abell. He is shown to have enlisted on 10 December 1915 (D.A.H.- Disordered Action of the Heart) and was discharged on 16 December 1918 ,M.U. (medically unfit). He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

The 3rd Devons were part of the Special Reserve. Once known as the Militia, the Special Reserve consisted of civilians with military training who undertook to attend regular training events with the army and to rejoin it if mobilised for emergency or war. Mobilised at the outbreak of war, the 3rd Battalion took up positions along the South West coastline to defend Britain against invasion.

Committed to this role throughout the war, the 3rd Devons never went overseas. In the course of the war they trained 750 officers and more than 13,000 men and despatched them overseas.

This description of the 3rd Battalion role suggests that Sidney Abell may have seen service only in Britain, but no service records survived the WW2 Blitz.

Association with Dawlish

Sidney Thomas Abell and Percival Ernest Abell(q.v.) were sons of Thomas Wyborn Abell and Mary Ann Murrin.

Thomas and Mary married early in 1885 and by the 1891 census Thomas Wyborn and Mary Ann Abell were living at Down, Winkleigh where he was a farmer.

Sidney Thomas Abell was born at Winkleigh in summer 1890.

In 1911 census the family had moved to the Strand Hill Dairy, Dawlish with five children:

John Henry Abell 1886-1976

Sidney Thomas Abell 1890-1919

Jenny Murrin Abell 1892-1957

Percival Ernest Abell 1897-1918,  died in action 10 April 1918, q.v.

William E Abell 1905 - ?

The Strand Hill Dairy employed Sidney and Jenny as assistants in 1911 at the time of the census.

Devon Roll of Honour Abell, Sidney Thomas, Pte, Devon Regt, 1919, Dawlish
Additional Information Commonwealth War Graves Site


Next of Kin: Thomas Wyborn Abell, father
Last Known Address: Strand Hill Dairy, Dawlish


Percival Thomas Abell grave marker, Dawlish Cemetery

Abell family business advert

Free Birth, Marriage, death records

Devonshire Regiment Museum, Dorchester

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Census records

UK, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects