Person

In December 2016, former Girls Aloud star, Cheryl, was featured on the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? programme. It was revealed that her great-grandfather served in France and Belgium with the Durham Light Infantry during the First World War.

Joseph Wilson Ridley was born in West Stanley, County Durham, in 1882. In 1904, he married Mary Ann Nicholson. On the 1911 census, they are living in Towneley Street, Stanley, with their three sons, and Joseph’s occupation is given as a grocery warehouseman for the Co-Operative Society. A fourth child was born in 1913 but died in the first quarter of 1915. Another son was born in 1915.

Joseph originally enlisted as a Private with the 17th (Reserve) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (DLI), on 15 December 1914, with whom he would have trained, in part at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. In August 1915, he was transferred to A Company of 11th Battalion, DLI, and sent to France, joining the battalion on 22 August at La Rue du Bois. According to the Army Pension papers, he rose through the ranks to become a Non-Commissioned Officer, becoming a Sergeant on 2 April 1918.

Joseph remained with the battalion, being appointed to acting Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant (Warrant Officer Class II), until it returned to the UK in June 1919. The battalion had stayed in France around Mondicourt, clearing camps, filling in trenches, and salvaging materials. Joseph was transferred to the Class Z reserve at Ripon on 15 July 1919.

After the war, Joseph returned to his job with the Co-Operative Society, appearing in a staff photograph printed in a history of the West Stanley Co-Operative, published in 1926 (D/Co/Wst 33). He had a further four children with his wife. Mary died in 1930, and he took on a housekeeper, Edith Annie Burton, to help look after his children. There was a scandal when they had twin girls together in 1932, but never married. These girls were Olga and Rene, Olga being Cheryl’s grandmother.

Olga and Rene appear on the birth register in 1932 under the name of Burton, with the mother’s maiden name listed as Sanders. There is a note of ‘Mar ‘39’ next to both their names. They appear again on the birth register in 1939, under the surname Ridley, the mother’s maiden name remaining as Sanders. This indicates that Edith Annie Burton was, or had been, married. On the BBC programme, she is referred to in a letter as Mrs Burton. The parish records of Beamish (Stanley) St Andrew show a marriage between Edith Annie Sanders and Joseph Edward Burton taking place on 1 August 1915.

The 1939 Register, which was updated into the 1940s, raises further questions. Joseph Wilson Ridley is still living at the same address in Towneley Street, with Cecil, his youngest son from his marriage to Mary. Edith Annie Burton, and their twin daughters are also living there, with Rene listed as Ridley, crossed out to say Burton [for some reason Olga’s record is closed but Rene’s is not]. However, there is another person in the household, Edna M Burton, crossed out to read Oliver, whose date of birth is given as 1923. Edna appears on the birth register of that year under the name of Burton, mother’s maiden name Sanders. She later appears in the marriage register in 1947, marrying a man named Thomas Oliver. This shows that Edith already had a daughter, presumably from her marriage to Joseph Burton (church records haven’t been found for Edith’s baptism or marriage that would show her father’s name), prior to taking the housekeeping job with Joseph Ridley. By 1939 at least, Edith is living with her mother and Joseph Ridley. According to the 1939 Register, Joseph Burton was living in nearby South Moor.

Joseph Wilson Ridley died in 1951 and is buried in Stanley New Cemetery.

Sources:
Who Do You Think you Are?, first aired 15 December 2016, BBC One
1911 Census (Ancestry)
Birth, marriage, and death register indexes (Ancestry)
First World War Pension records (Ancestry)
1939 Register (Find My Past)
11th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, war diary
Co-operation in West Stanley and District (1876-1926), 1926, ref: Durham County Record Office D/Co/Wst 33
Beamish (Stanley) St Andrew marriage register, ref: Durham County Record Office EP/Bea 1/8
Stanley New Cemetery burial register, ref: Durham County Record Office Microfilm M78/37

Civil Parish: Stanley

Birth date: 1882

Death date: 1951-Aug

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: Townleley Street, Stanley

Employment: Grocery warehouseman, Co-operative Society (1911 census)
Caretaker (burial register)

Family: Wife: Mary Ann Ridley, nee Nicholson
Children with wife: Wilson, William, Leslie (died 1 year old), Joseph, Nancy, Thomas, Allan, Cecil and Ernest
Children with Edith Annie Burton: Olga and Rene

Military service:

Enlisted 15 Dec 1914 17th (Reserve) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, Private, service number 22535
Transferred 17 Aug 1915 to 11th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
Promoted to Lance Corporal 11 Aug 1918
Promoted to Corporal 3 Sep 1916
Promoted to Sergeant 2 Apr 1918
Appointed Acting Regimental Quartermaster (Warrant Officer Class II) 13 Jan 1919
Demobilised Ripon, 15 Jul 1919

Medal(s): Victory
British War Medal
1915 Star

Gender: Male

Contributed by Durham County Record Office | KGRidley