Second Lieutenant Norman Godfrey Fidoe

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2nd Lieutenant. 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment.

A black and white, head and shoulders portrait of an Army officer wearing a shirt and tie.

Second Lieutenant Norman Godfrey Fidoe

Early life:

Norman was born in 1893 at Kirkby Moorside in Helmsley, North Yorkshire. His birth was registered there in the third quarter of the year. His parents were William Fidoe and Alice Fidoe née Atkins, who were married at Oldham in 1891. William was a Primitive Methodist Minister.
In the 1901 census they were living at Mount Pleasant in the village of Laxey on the Isle of Man where William was the Primitive Methodist minister.
Between 1903 and 1907, they were living at 25 Devonshire Street in Keighley and Norman was attending Keighley Boys Grammar School.
He left school in 1907 and became a student at Archbishop Holgate’s Grammar School in York.
By 1911 he was 17 years old and working as a bank clerk and living at 160 Legsby Avenue Grimsby. At this time his parents and three sisters Gladys aged 16, Dorothy aged 14 and Gertrude aged 13 were living at 56, Newbiggin, Malton, where his father William was a Primitive Methodist Minister. At some point between 1911 and the start of the war, Norman worked for the London Joint Stock Bank at Scunthorpe.

War service:

Norman entered the Army in 1915, serving with the Royal Fusiliers 26th (Banker's) Battalion. His service number was GS/20188.
He was on active service in France from 4th May 1916 and was invalided home on 21st September.
Norman received a commission to 2nd Lieutenant on 31st October 1917 and was attached to the Leicestershire Regiment on 20th November. He was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant on 22nd February 1918 but was sadly killed in action on 21st March, aged 24.
He has no known final resting place and is remembered on the Arras Memorial at Faubourg D´Amiens Cemetery, Arras.


WO-95/1622/1/02, extract from the war diary of the 1st Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment:

1st March 1918:
Norman was serving as a 2nd Lieutenant with 'A' Company, under Captain S. T. Hartshorne, 2 Lt. E. H. Butler and 2 Lt. R. J. Croker.

A trench map of fields and village with blue zigzag lines showing trenches.

Trench map showing the positions of Companies on 21st March 1918.

21st March:
Norman was leading a small platoon of 'A' Company who had been placed at a forward STRONG POINT in C.29.a and it had been overrun by enemy soldiers between 10 am and 11 am on the morning of 21st March. The rest of 'A' Company had been positioned further back in the 'VAULX – MORCHIES lINE,' which was about half a mile to the South West of Lagnicourt village.
At 8.30 pm, a runner arrived from 'A' Company with the report that one platoon of A Company had been practically wiped out at STRONG POINT C.29.a during morning. Remainder of Company in battle position in VAULX – MORCHIES LINE.

It appears that the enemy outnumbered them ten to one, and had come from direction of Lagnicourt village along the 'Lagnicourt Switch' trench and it was reported that 2nd Lt. Norman Fidoe and his men had fought to the last man defending their position.


Keighley News, 6th April 1918:

Second Lieutenant N. G. FIDOE, of the Leicester Regiment, who was killed on March 21, was the only son of the Rev. W. Fidoe, superintendent of the Lincoln Second Primitive Methodist Circuit (formerly of Keighley), and before joining the Army was in the service of the London Stock Bank at Scunthorpe. He was educated at the Trade and Grammar School, Keighley, and Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School, York.


Keighlian Magazine obituary:

NORMAN GODFREY FIDOE. 2nd Lieutenant. Leicestershire Regiment.
Norman Fidoe will be well known to many Old Boys as the son of the Rev. W. Fidoe, formerly a minister in Keighley. He attended the School from 1905 to 1907, and on leaving Keighley became a student at Archbishop Holgate’s Grammar School, York.
Entering the army in November, 1915, he joined the Royal Fusiliers (Bankers' Battalion), and in 1916 saw active service in France. In October, 1916, he was invalided home. He received his commission in November, 1917 and was attached to the Leicesters. Before joining the army he was in the service of the London Joint Stock Bank at Scunthorpe. He was only 24 years of age, when killed in action on 21st March, 1918.
His Captain, in a letter of sympathy, pays a fine tribute to his popularity, efficiency and bravery. He writes to his father :— "He, with a few men, was holding a strong point, which the enemy attacked in overwhelming numbers from both front and rear. Your son was killed while in a short trench with two or three men and a Lewis gun. I was his company commander, and loved the boy. He was a, very keen and efficient officer, whom everyone liked. His men, the few that are left, wish to express their sympathy. You can have one satisfaction, that he died a most glorious death, while fighting against fearful odds in a very vital position. He died splendidly, just as he would have wished to- die had he had the choice."
The Colonel of his regiment, after describing the circumstances of Lieut. Fidoe's death as above, continues :— "There were no actual survivors. The resistance offered was magnificent. Your son was an excellent officer, keen and hard-working, and I am sorry to lose him. Please accept the deepest sympathy of myself and brother officers in your great loss."
In writing to sympathise with his father the Medical Officer writes :— "He had only recently joined us, but even in that short time he had won everyone's respect. As you know, he died gallantly, leading his men, and it is due to such actions as your son's that we were able to make such a gallant stand against overwhelming odds. We all feel his loss keenly."
Lieut. Fidoe was an only son, and the School extends its sympathy to his sorrowing parents in their sad loss.


Hull Daily Mail, Friday 5th April 1918, page 4:

News has reached Scunthorpe that Second Lieutenant Norman Godfrey Fidoe, Leicester Regiment, was killed in action on March 21st.
Second Lieutenant Fideoe was the only son of the Rev. W. Fidoe, Superintendent of the Lincoln Second Ciruit, and came to Scunthorpe just after the outbreak of hostilities to take the place in the London and Joint Stock Bank of Staff Sergeant H. Wood, who is now in Egypt. His colonel pays a high tribute to his efficiency, popularity and gallantry. He and his men were defending a vital point against awful odds, and they were eventually attacked from the rear as well as from the front, ond not one of the men in the trench survived.
Second-Lieutenant Fidoe was educated at the Trade and Grammar School, Keighley, and the Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School, York. While at Scunthorpe he was a member of the Y.M.C.A., and esteemed by all with whom he came in contact. He is the second from this bank to have made the supreme sacrifice, Mr. H. Spilman, of Whitton, being killed in action in May, 1917.


Norman has no known final resting place and is remembered on the Arras Memorial, Bay 5, at Faubourg D´Amiens Cemetery, Arras. France.
He is also remembered in the Keighlian Magazine Roll of Honour of the old boys of Keighley Boys Grammar School who died in the war.

The Probate record shows he left £263 1s. to his mother Alice Fidoe on 21st November 1918.
She also received a payment of £62 11s 0d on 1st March 1919 and another of £11 on 10th March 1920 to settle his Army account and a one off war gratuity payment of £11 on 16th September 1920.

Alice would also have received any personal effects and a Great War memorial plaque and scroll inscribed with his name.
Norman was awarded the 1914/15 Star plus the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his war service, the latter two of which were sent to Alice on 24th August 1925.

In the 1939 Register William, Alice and their daughter Gertrude were living at 35, Avondale Road in Shipley.
William died later that year aged 77 and Alice died in 1948 aged 79.


Information sources:

England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census.
1911 England Census
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
Gro War Death Army Officers Indices (1914 To 1921)
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966.
Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920
WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920
West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962
1921 Census Of England & Wales.
1939 Register
The National Library of Scotland mapping service

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