Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

The Gallipoli Campaign was fought on the Gallipoli peninsula 25th April 1915 to 9th January 1916. in a failed attempt to defeat Turkey by seizing the Dardanelles and capturing Istanbul. Ill-conceived and planned, the initial effort by the Royal Navy failed to force passage through the Dardanelles by sea power alone. It was then realised that a land force was needed to support the project by suppressing the Turkish mobile artillery batteries. By the time all was ready the Turks were well aware and well prepared. Despite amazing heroics on the day of the landings only minor beachheads were achieved and over the succeeding 8 months little progress was made. Eventually the beachheads were evacuated in a series of successful ruses.

Despite Gallipoli rightly becoming a national source of pride to Australians and New Zealanders, far more British casualties were sustained, and these days the substantial French contribution is almost forgotten.

Detail :

The following is an extract from Surrey in the Great War and a post created by Kathleen Gallagher in 2017.

"This story is the result of an investigation of documents held by Surrey History Centre. The file (SHC ref. CC7/4/4, nos. 1-50) contains correspondence and insurance claims on behalf of Surrey County Council Education Department employees who had been killed in action during the Great War. The cases date from 1915 to 1918.

Case 12: Sydney Dormer Moulding

Although there is no definite knowledge of what happened to Lieutenant Sydney Moulding, his death is officially presumed on the 22 August 1915, a day after his last known sighting. On the 21 August, Moulding was seen badly wounded in Gallipoli. By 1 March 1916, the only hope that he was alive rested on the possibility that he was taken prisoner by the Turkish troops, which would have rendered him unable to contact his family. However on the 6 July that year Moulding was presumed dead, following his name not being included on a list of Turkish prisoners. It is suspected that Moulding may have been shot again after his last sighting, and together with numerous others was buried with missing or unknown identification.

In a handwritten will, Moulding – the former Headmaster of Thursley Church of England School – divided up his assets between his remaining family members. This included his four brothers, Edgar, Frank, William and Leonard, as well as his sister, Florrie. An accompanying letter written by his father reveals that at the time of Sydney’s death, his brothers were also in service, whilst Florrie was attending Goldsmith’s College, London."

Probate MOULDING Sydney Dormer of 92 Bexley-road Erith Kent lieutenant 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers died 22 August 1915 at Suvla Bay on active service Probate London 18 August to Alfred Moulding lay reader. Effects £350.

Masonic :

In official record his name is spelled "Sydney" whilst the masonic shows "Sidney." He is listed as a 27 year old Schoolmaster resident at Waterloo House, Knaphill at the time of initiation in 1911. The contribution record shows two years w.s., war service followed by the final comment, "Killed in Action Aug.1915."
Junior Warden

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley