TIDY Alfred James

The Fallen of Ewhurst and Ellen's Green, Surrey
Alfred James Tidy Private 7228 2nd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment Killed in Action 14/02/1915, aged 46 (1) No Known Grave, but Remembered on : Ewhurst War Memorial, Memorial Plaque and Book of Remembrance *Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, Ypres, Belgium (Panel 34)* *The Menin Gate at Night, Ypres, Belgium*
	*ALFRED JAMES TIDY was born in Ewhurst in 1870, the son of William Tidy (2).* In 1881 Alfred, aged 11, was living at Ewhurst Green with his father, aunt (Martha Tidy), younger brothers Jesse (b1872), Walter (b1875), Arthur (b1880) and sister Lucy (b1878). Harriet Tidy, Alfred's mother, had died in 1880, aged 37. By 1891 Alfred does not appear on his family's census return, and so presumably had moved away from Ewhurst. In September 1899 the marriage register for Kingston in Middlesex notes that Alfred married Ethel Puttick, daughter of John and Harriett Puttick of Burpham, Guildford. In 1891 Ethel Puttick had been registered in the census as a servant at 21 Artillery Road, Stoke, Guildford. By 1901 Alfred and Ethel where living in Chilworth New Road, in the parish of Shalford, Surrey, where Alfred was a bricklayer. By 1911 Alfred & Ethel were living in No2 Montague Cottages, Ewhurst. It is possible that Alfred had served previously in the Army, which might explain his early arrival in France on the 14th January 1915. Having enlisted in Guildford, he was to serve as Private 7228 with the 2nd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. The 2nd Battalion had been serving in India at the outbreak of the war and returned to England on 23rd December 1914. They joined the newly formed 85th Brigade of the 28th Division, and landed in Le Havre in France in January 1915. Almost immediately upon arrival on the continent, the battalion was moved into the line at Ypres. A & C companies were almost annihilated and C & D suffered almost as badly. Following five days of fighting barely 200 men remained of the original 1000 who had disembarked at Le Havre. Private Alfred Tidy was posted as missing, presumed Killed in Action on the 14th February 1915 (3). His body was never identified and he is commemorated on panel 34 of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Belgium. *Private Alfred Tidy, commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres.* Alfred was posthumously awarded the 1915 Star, the British War Medal and the victory Medal (3). The entry in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission register notes that Alfred's father lived at Parkhouse Green, Cranleigh, and his widow, Ethel lived at 10, College Road, Guildford, Surrey. The Ewhurst Book of Remembrance incorrectly states Alfred's age as 45, and that he went missing at Ypres on the 28th February 1914. The Ewhurst War Memorial incorrectly states that Alfred was a member of the Royal Fusiliers.

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	Notes: (1) Aged 46 (CWGC records) (2) Presumably Alfred's mother had died between 1880 (birth of Arthur Tidy) and 1881 Census, when William is noted as a widower. (3) Medal Record Card (Public Records Office) and CWGC register.

	*Other sources:* Book of Remembrance Soldiers Died in the Great War 1901 Census



Andrew Bailey, Ewhurst, Surrey andy@ewhurstfallen.co.uk Copyright©2005