Sidney was born on 12th August 1897 and he attended Ilford County High School between September 1909 and December 1913. Previously he had studied at Downshall Elementary School in Ilford. In 1913, he left Ilford County High School having passed the Oxford Senior Local Examination. He was able to secure a job as a clerk.
Sidney’s father, William, was a commercial traveller by trade. His mother’s name was Sarah. The family lived in Aldborough Road, Ilford in 1909.
Sidney was a Rifleman with the 1st/6th Battalion of the London Regiment (City of London Rifles) when he died on 30th November 1917. His service number was 324078. He was 20 years old when he was killed. His name appears on the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval (Panel 11).
The school magazine, Chronicles, reported on his death in the Spring 1918 edition:
‘Private Sidney George Templar had only joined his battalion at the front eight days before he was killed in the Cambrai fight. An elder brother, E. C. Templar, who has been twice seriously wounded, is once more in the thick of it in France.’
Research by Andrew Emeny, History Teacher at ICHS
Sources:
Ancestry.com
ICHS school records and magazines
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Note
Ilford County High School started life as the Park Higher Grade School in 1901 in Balfour Road, Ilford. It was renamed Ilford County High School (or initially County High School, Ilford) in the years after the school’s management was transferred from Ilford School Board to Essex Education Committee in 1904.
Reproduced from Homage: A Record of Our Heroes (a commemorative booklet produced by Seven Kings United Methodist Church c.1920)
Born August 12th 1897
Killed in action at Bourlon Wood, Friday November 30th 1917
The War has taken its toll of many young lives full of promise for high service in the nation. But we feel more keenly, personally, the loss of those lads who were so full of promise of service in our Church. Of these none created higher hopes than Sidney Templar, for he had already proved his value in the Sunday School and as Missionary Secretary. Every task he undertook was carried through with enthusiasm and devotion. Sidney was educated at the County High School, Ilford, subsequently becoming a bank clerk. He attested under the Derby scheme, and was called up on 23rd December 1916, when he was 19 years of age, and joined the 6th City of London Territorials, the battalion in which his eldest brother served throughout the war. He went to France on 14th November 1917. Two weeks later he was in heavy fighting in Bourlon Wood, Cambrai, and was killed in that place on 30th November. He has gone to take up higher service for the Master he loved.