Military History

Embarked Adelaide per HMAT ‘Geelong’ A2 for Suez 18.11.1915.
Roll Rank Private.
Roll Unit 8th Infantry Brigade, 32nd Infantry Battalion, ‘D’ Coy.
Kirkbride disembarked at Suez with ‘C’ Coy 32nd Battalion. 18.12.1915. He was transferred to the 5th Artillery Division, 53rd Battery, 14th Field Artillery, as Gunner at Tel-el-Kebir 15.3.1916. Kirkbride was taken on strength with the 53rd Battery 15.3.1916. Kirkbride with the 53rd Battery proceeded to Alexandria, joined the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and embarked per HT ‘Huntsend’ for France 20.6.1916. He disembarked at Marseilles 30.6.1916. The 53rd Battery moved onto the front in the Somme Valley. Kirkbride was wounded in action in the Field in France at Flers with a gunshot wound to his back 21.11.1916.
He was transferred by the 5th Australian Field Ambulance to a Corps Rest Station 21.11.1916. Kirkbride rejoined his unit 7.12.1916. Kirkbride served in the harsh winter of 1916-17. He was admitted to hospital with sore feet 10.1.1917, transferred to the Corps Rest Station 27.1.1917 and rejoined his Unit 4.2.1917. Kirkbride was KIA on his Gun at Westhoek 14.10 1917 (St Matthew’s Fallen), (reported Daily News 3.12.1917). He was buried at Huts Military Cemetery  Dickiebusch, Belgium, Plot 9, Row C, Grave miles SW of Bapaume, France.
Final Rank Gunner, 14th Field Artillery Brigade (FAB)
Medical Condition Deceased. KIA.
Awards and Medals 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Notes Sidney’s brother Stanley (SN 18259) served in WW1 and returned.
‘Some day, some time, our eyes will see
Dear face held in memory,
And Christ will clasp the broken chain,
Still closer when we meet again.’
(West Australian Newspaper In Memoriam 4.10.1919)
Photos  HMAT 'Geelong' at Alexandria. Photographer Schuler P.E.F. Photograph source AWM  PS0366
              View towards Flers early 1917. Photographer unknown, photograph source AWM E00209
              Abandoned guns at Westhoek after Battle of Passchendaele October 1917. Photographer unknown, photograph source AWM E01088
              Dickibusch New Military Cemetery. Photograph source postcard 
              S.H. Kirkbride. Image source West Australian Newspaper. Family Notices  4.10.1919 p1

Information Source
AWM PS0366. HMAT 'Geelong' at Alexandria wharf. Photographer Schuler P.F.E. photograph sourced fom the Pictorial Collection of the Australian War Memorial.
AWM E00209. View towards Flers early 1917. Photographer unknown, photograph sourced from the Pictorial Collection of the Australian War Memorial
AWM E01088. Abandoned guns at Westhoek after Battle of Passchendaele October 1917. Photographer unknown, photograph sourced from the Pictorial Collection of the Australian War Meorial
AWM Embarkation Roll, Sidney Harold Kirkbride
AWM Roll of Honour- Sidney Harold Kirkbride
Daily News
Guildford Grammar School Honour Roll
Guildford Grammar School War Memorial
Guildford Primary School Honour Roll
Guildford Volunteer Fire Brigade Honour Roll
Guildford War MemoriallNAA: B2455, Kirkbride Sidney Harold
St Matthew’s Honour Roll
St Matthew’s Fallen
Wesley Chapel Fallen
West Australian Newspaper
Wise H. and Coy. Western Australian Post Office Directories. SLWA


 Water Street (previosly known as Swan Street), East Guildford. WA.

Associated Images