Sidney’s father, Alfred Henry Dinmore, was born on the 14th December 1858 and joined the navy as a boy aged 15 on 9th April 1874. According to his service record his trade was a printer, he was 5’ 3” tall, had brown eyes and brown hair and an anchor and family tattoo on his right arm. On his 18th birthday he signed on as an adult for 10 years service. He specialised in naval gunnery and trained at HMS Excellent a shore base at Whale Island, Portsmouth. This was a time of great change in the Navy’s ships, converting from sail to steam, and one of the ships that Alfred served on was HMS Duke of Wellington, a ‘first rate’ (more than 100 guns) ship of the line, had both sail and steam for propulsion.
Alfred left the Navy in 1885 and the following year married Mary Jane Hemmings (born c1868), an Australian from Brisbane (Q3 1886, Woolwich, 1d, 1624). The 1901 census lists Alfred’s occupation as a ‘Beltman’ and that he was an employer.
The common practice at the time was to have large families due to high infant mortality. The Dinmores were no exception; they had 12 children in all. This also meant that they had to move house several times to accommodate their growing family.
Their first known address was Wood Cottage, Charlton Lane. They were registered here between 1890 and 1893/4, although it is likely that they were here before then. While at this address they had 4 children; Ernest Harold (Born Q2 1888), William James (Born Q3 1889), Frederick John (Born Q3 1891) and Sidney Alfred (Born 14th January 1893).
In 1894/5 they moved to 1 Violet Cottages, Charlton Lane. They had a further 2 children while at this address. Nellie was born circa 1895 and Thomas Richard (see Rifle Brigade) in the 4th Quarter 1898. By 1899 they had moved again to 82 Charlton Lane. While they were here they had a further 4 children; Jessie J was born in Q1 1901, Dorothy Gladys was born in Q1 1904, she died aged 8 in Q2 1912. Then came Edward, born in 1906 followed by Cedric, born 28/11/1907, and Mary born Q4 1909. According to the 1911 census there was another child who was born and died between 1901 and 1911.
By 1910 their address, according to the electoral register, was 3 Cedar Grove. The following year their address has changed to 3 Floyd Road, although by the time of the 1911 census it changes again to 6 Charlton Lane.
Sidney Alfred Dinmore’s military career began on 20th February 1909, 5 weeks after his 16th birthday, when like his father before him joined the Royal Navy as a boy sailor. His service record shows that at the time he was 5’ 2¼” tall, had brown eyes, fair hair and a scar on his lip. He trained aboard HMS Ganges. A number of old ships had been renamed “HMS Ganges” to serve in the role of a training establishment. At the time that Sidney was there it was the turn of HMS Caroline, which had been renamed “Ganges” in April 1908. On the 15th January 1910 he was posted to HMS Berwick, a Monmouth-class armoured cruiser. He stayed here until 26th April 1910 when he moved to HMS Bulwark (destroyed on 26th November 1914 by an explosion near Sheerness killing 736 personnel). Sidney stayed here for 1 month before being posted to HMS Dominion on 28th May 1910.
On 14th January 1911, his 18th birthday, he was promoted to Ordinary Seaman. The census of 2nd April that year records him as being on board Dominion and that the ship was located in Glengariff Harbour, Ireland. The entry in the census wrongly states that he was married and that he was born in Lambeth. After he was promoted to the rank of Able Seaman, he recieved three dsiciplines between 1912 and 1916, 3 days in the cells, 25 days detention and 28 days detention. One of those was for being “99 hrs 10 min late, missing ship”. Other than on these occasions, his character was described as ‘very good’ throughout his naval career.
His father died in April 1914.
On the 2nd August 1914 Sidney was posted to HMS Euryalus, a Cressy-class armoured cruiser. His posting lasted until 4th April 1917. During his time on board Sidney saw action in the disastrous campaign at Gallipoli. In April 1915 Admiral Wemyss was put in charge of the landings on the peninsular and used Euryalus as his flagship. Euryalus then assisted in the transporting and landing of the troops at Cape Helles. On the 24th April the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers on board Euryalus and the battleship HMS Implacable were transported near the coast and transferred to 32 cutters for the assault at 4 a.m… Euryalus then moved closer to “W” Beach to provide covering fire and Implacable moved to “X” Beach to do the same. Although the landings could be considered a success, as the beaches were captured, it was not without great loss of life. The Ottoman troops were well dug in and prepared and a war of attrition lasted all summer resulting in the evacuation of men in December 1915. Admiral Wemyss also co-ordinated the evacuation of Gallipoli from Euryalus.
On 16th January 1916 Admiral Wemyss became the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies and continued to use Euryalus as his flagship. Euryalus was used in the Middle East naval campaign supporting the Arab Revolt against the Turks.
On 5th April 1917 Sidney is at HMS Pembroke, an administration and transit base at Chatham in Kent. His record shows that he was here until 20th November 1917. During his posting to HMS Pembroke Sidney got married. His marriage certificate shows that he was 25 years old and married Maud Carpenter (29) a barmaid at the Pavilion Inn, North Woolwich, on 2nd July 1917 at Dartford Register Office. His address is listed as 5 Springfield Road, Welling. The marriage was witnessed by a William Field and Sidney’s mother Mary J Dinmore.
Later that year, on 3rd September, HMS Pembroke was bombed by German Gotha bombers in one of the first night time raids of the war. The Drill Hall, which was being used as an overflow dormitory for about 900 seamen, suffered two direct hits from bombs dropped at about 23:12. The scene was absolute carnage. Apart from the casualties caused by the bombs exploding many more were cut to pieces by flying shards when one of the bombs crashed through the glass roof of the Drill Hall. In total 136 personnel were killed. If Sidney was not injured in this attack he would certainly have helped in recovering the injured and dead, some of whom were so badly mutilated that they could not be identified.
From 21st November 1917 to 25th February 1918 Sidney was based at HMS Apollo, an old minelayer that was moored at Devonport and used as a depot ship. On the 26th February he was back at HMS Pembroke until 28th May. The next day he was posted to HMS Sentinel where he stayed until 25th April 1919. HMS Sentinel was a scout cruiser, which was smaller and faster than the armoured cruisers. In 1918 she was patrolling the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. In November she was sent through the Dardanelles to the Black Sea when Britain started to get involved with the Civil War in Russia.
On 26th April 1919 Sidney was back at HMS Pembroke, Chatham, where he stayed until 17th June when he was posted to HMS Hercules, a dreadnought battleship that had been in service since 1910 and had recently become part of the reserve fleet. Sidney stayed here until 26th April 1920. The next day he was back at HMS Pembroke where he stayed until 17th May. On the 18th May his service record shows that he was posted to HMS Actaeon (Thisbe). This looks to have been a shore base at Sheerness in Kent. This was Sidney’s last posting as he died on 31st May 1920. His death certificate shows that he died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the seamen’s hospital. Sidney was 27 years old, incorrectly noted as 28 years old by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
His wife, Maud, remarried 2 years later in Q3 1922 to Ernest Horobin, a survivor of the war who served in the Royal Field Artillery and brother of David Horobin who was killed in action in Flanders. She was listed as living at 100 Avenue, Lodge Lane, Welling.
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This story has been researched by volunteers. We have taken every effort to ensure its accuracy. If you are related to Sidney Alfred Dinmore, or if you have any further information, please do get in touch.