Sidney Towills • Abbotsbury

 

Sydney was born in Soho, London on 14^th May 1900, before moving to West Street in Abbotsbury with his parents. After leaving school he worked as a farm labourer. With the First World War well under way, on his 18^th birthday as a brown haired, blue eyed healthy teenager, he joined the Royal Navy, signing up for 12 years’ service. In a cruel twist of fate, he would never go on to complete his training on board HMS Powerful. Just seven weeks later, on 2^nd July 1918, Sydney died ‘from disease’ at the Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth. The disease was empyema. This was possibly a result of contracting pneumonia. Empyema is when pus collects in the pleural space, which is between the lung and the inner surface of the chest cavity. In pneumonia the bacterial infection forms in the lung and the pus can be coughed out, but when it develops into empyema in the pleural space it cannot, and would need to be extracted surgically.

Sydney was buried here in St Nicholas’ churchyard and nearby is a headstone to his parents. His father died a year later and his mother in 1928.

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GRID REF: SY 57755 85185