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Siddall.

RobertS

master brummie
I am keen to find an original report relating to Arthur Siddall and the incident below.

Can anyone help?

Athur Siddall was one of the sons of Sarah Ward and Walter Siddall and he married Dorothy May Shakespeare on 27 Jun 1920 St Marks Ladywood. He was born 26 Nov 1900 in Ladywood and was buried Yardley Cemetary Birmingham

Arthur rescued two children at 1, back of 4, Lionel Street on the 15th of September 1931. He was awarded a certificate by The Society for the Protection of Life from Fire on the 14th of January 1932.

Arthur died three years later in 1935 at the age of 35 from a burst appendix. When he died he left his wife Dorothy with ten children to raise on her own.
 
Newspaper reports

Hi Roberts, i would think Athurs heroic actions would have been
well reported in the local Newspapers of that period,
B,ham Post & Mail has Archives, maybe enquire there?
(trinity mirror Group now) their www. is on their Papers Ok.
Cheers & good luck, John Y :cool:
 
Thanks John

Thanks for the suggestion. My only problem at the moment is getting to Birmingham. Will see if they have anything on the web.
 
Arthur and Dorothy were my Grandparents, I remember my mother telling me about this. Nan had her picture in the newspaper, I think she was expecting her final child at this time just after Grandad died, my mom was in the photo too. Where the article my nan had isn't known but I will ask my Dad, ( my mom sadly passed away 3 years ago). Unfortunately aunts and uncles are very thin on the ground these days, so getting the framed picture nan had may be a problem.
 
what a sad ending for a brave man...i have asked mikejee to see if he can find anything in the newspaper archives for you or any of our other members who are subscribed to them

lyn
 
Robert,

Here's the Birmingham Gazette report dated 10 March 1932, though not a very good reproduction I'm afraid.

Maurice
siddall1.jpg
 
Unfortunately the Birm post & the Birm Mail are not yet available online for the interwar period.
 
Hello there Annliz,
I think we must be second cousins or thereabouts. My mother Grace was the first daughter of Emma Siddall, fourth child of Walter Siddall (1856-1901)and Sarah Ward. I think Arthur (1900-1935)was their tenth child and he married Dorothy May Shakespeare on June 27 1920. I have ten children on record. I've done my best to track down the more recent Siddalls but I have gaps here and there. I have a line that probably goes back to George Siddall of Sheffield in the early 1700's.

I've had no luck in finding photos of the Siddalls and am still looking for the report of Arthurs bravery and the records of the P L F Society. I'm happy to share any info I have or any progress made.

Kindest regards
 
Hello RobertS and Annliz,
Robert, we have messaged privately before about the Siddalls, My Grandfather's sister Lizzie Sharp married Walter jnr. and his brother Charles Henry Sharp married Walter's sister Katy!! (1914 0n the same day May 30th at Church of The Messiah Broad Street Birmingham).
I was looking at family trees on Ancestry, (I don't believe everything I read!) one of the trees has a photo of Walter in WW1 uniform and also one of Lizzie and Katy with son Dennis. It seems she was known as "Doll".
I don't store my tree on Ancestry so I can't give a link but I hope this helps.
Best Wishes,
rosie.
 
Thanks Rosie, I'm off to search through Ancestry to see if I can pick these up. I take it you have todays posts about Arthur.

kindest regards.
 
RobertS thank you so much for the reply. I will try and sort out photos but since Nan passed away in 1983 (Dorothy May) , I don't know who had all the photos or memorabilia etc. Leave it with me and I'll see what Dad has in the loft. Out of the 10 children Arthur and Dorothy May Did call had there are only two left, Walter and Olive, unfortunately they have both had strokes so memory is poor. I can remember loads of stuff about the Siddalls from what Nan told us and Mom said, the hard life Nan had both at home and when married. Widowed so young and bringing up 10 kids, they all turned out good. Wow do I miss my my Nan and Mom. Thanks for the offer of information much appreciated. There is one thing I have never been able to verify from Nan was are the Birmingham Siddalls related to the famous Lizzie Siddall (Siddal) my mum always said she did. My mum when younger looked very like Lizzie did in the Ophelia painting.
Thank you Annie.
 
Hello Annliz again

I'm staggered, my post about Arthur was in 2008! Nothing and then a deluge in 20018. Newspaper cuttings from Sospiri and Mikejee, Clues for photos from Rosie (yes they are on Ancestry) and a new cousin.

Like you, I rather hoped for a connection to Lizzie Siddal, Rossetti's wife. I went sideways off our tree and did my best to make a tree for her but alas couldn't find a link.

I did the same for Dorothy Mays ancestors and The William. In both cases I ended up in with the ancestors in the right place but no records that link them.

On another side of my family I was able to make a difficult jump with the help of DNA so in the case of Lizzie there may still be some hope as 1829 isn't too far back.

Will try and private message you with my e-mail when I can remember how to do it!
 
Hello Annliz and RobertS,
I tried to find out about Lizzie Siddal too but sadly couldn't find a connection. The Pre-Raphaelite paintings are my favourite!!
My cousin said her mother told about a young female Siddall who was a singer but family stories can get distorted.
Best Wishes,
rosie.
 
Hello Rosie
You were right about photos posted on Ancestry. they were useful but a couple were intriguing. Not Siddalls but Pardoes. Two daughters of Percy and Sarah Elizabeth Siddall, Gladys Ada and 'Renie' (Suspect a name change) are on perhaps theatre photo cards. Gladys as dancer and a portrait of 'Renie'. The one of Renie is labeled Berlin 1925. This would be at the height of 'Cabaret'. I wonder if one of these was the Siddall singers your mother knew about. Or one of her sisters?
 

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Rosie

I forgot to mention, my Grandmother Emma, a sister of Sarah Elizabeth, was in her later years a Dresser at the Alexandra Theater. I have no idea what she did after her juvenile employment as a cigar roller although her husband James Percy Johnstone had a sideline of playing piano in pubs and smaller halls, so she could well have been a singer. When Emma died my grandfather re married and she had been a 'music hall artist' in her youth.
 

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