King Edward’s School and the Great War

Memorial Roll of Honour 1914 - 1918

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Lane, Sydney Henry

Acting Major ▪ 290th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery

Sydney Henry Lane, born on 18th August 1892, was admitted to King Edward’s School in September 1909, having transferred from King Edward’s Five Ways. His father, Henry, was an artisan pattern maker, and the family, including his mother, Martha, his sister, Sarah, and two boarders, lived at 380, High Street, Smethwick.

At School, Sydney was absent for long stretches of time, possibly due to illness. However, when he did attend, he was in the top set for maths.

Sydney enlisted as a Private Soldier in the 1st Birmingham Pals Battalion (14th Royal Warwickshire Regiment), in 1914. He reached the rank of Lance Corporal before gaining a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1915. He was sent to France and promoted to Acting Captain in 1916, and by 1917 he was Acting Major in charge of the 290th Siege Battery. He was mentioned in dispatches five times (twice posthumously), and was killed at Armentières on 5th April 1918, aged twenty-two. He is buried in Cabaret Rouge Cemetery, France, and left his estate of £797 to his father. The inscription on Sydney’s headstone reads: “Until The Resurrection Morn.”