Arthur Frederick RYDER

30 July 1915

A SKIPTON SERGEANT WOUNDED

On Friday morning last Mr. T. B. Ryder, Neville Street, Skipton, received a postcard from his son, Sergt. Arthur Frederick Ryder, of the 6th Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, stating he had been wounded and was on his way to a clearing station somewhere in France. The card was characteristically brief. It intimated that the Battalion went into the trenches the previous Sunday and that he “had the unfortunate luck to get in the way of a piece of shrapnel which went through the right calf.”

The injured soldier is an old Ermysted Grammar School boy and prior to the War was an assistant to the County Education Architect at Wakefield. Prior to that he was in the Skipton Urban Council surveyors department. He joined the K.O.Y.L.I. last August, trained at Aldershot and other places, and went to the Front in May.

In a recent letter to his parents Sergt. Ryder made an interesting reference to Lance-Corpl. W. E. Blackburn, the Skipton cricketer. Learning through the medium of the ‘Craven Herald’ that Mr. Blackburn was reported wounded, he called at the place where the 10th Liverpool Scottish were stationed - not many minutes walk away - but found that his kilted colleague had been sent across the silver streak to recuperate.

Sergt. Ryder also wrote informingly on the question of water supply at the Front. On arrival at a new camp the Medical Officer inspected all ponds or springs, setting some aside for horses and others for washing and drinking. All drinking water goes through the water cart, which sterilises it, and it is regarded as an offence to drink any other water which has not passed through the cart. Water is sent to the trenches every evening with the rations.

When not in the trenches, Sergt. Ryder states that he and his colleagues took fatigue duty spells in helping the Engineers in the reserve trenches. He proceeds:– “The other time I was with a party in a small smashed up house just behind the firing line digging a trench for telephone wires. The street was similar to Cavendish Street in Skipton, with paved sets which we were pulling up.

“It was deserted except for a few soldiers billeted there, quiet except for the bursting of an occasional shell well beyond us, and the noise of artillery firing at too-venturesome aeroplanes. Half-way down the street is covered with debris - the remains of a house, furniture, etc. A little further on the side of a house was blown away, exposing to the view beds, chairs, and pictures hanging at rakish angles on the remaining wall.
So you go on meeting with scenes of destruction and ruin. Whole streets are demolished and one building was irreparably damaged. This is the inevitable mark of modern warfare. Think of the people who were there and are now wanderers: then you know what we are fighting here for in order that the scenes I have attempted to describe shall not be seen in Britain.”

In a subsequent letter Sergt. Ryder states that he had reached La Havre by easy stages and expected to be removed to England in a few days. He was in the reserve trenches when he met with his injury a mile behind the firing line. He added: “That's the worst of being in the reserve trenches, you cannot see the enemy, though every now and then they give you a warm time.”

17 December 1915

CRAVEN AND THE WAR – PERSONAL ITEMS

Sergt. F. Ryder, of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, who was wounded while serving in France last July, left for the Front once more on Tuesday night last. Sergt. Ryder is a son of Mrs. T. B. Ryder, of Neville Street, Skipton, and prior to the War was an architect on the staff of the West Riding County Council.

20 October 1916

SKIPTON SERGEANT WOUNDED

Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Ryder, 30, Neville Street Skipton, have received official intimation this week that their son, Sergeant A.F. Ryder, of the Yorkshire Light Infantry, was wounded in action on September 15th last. The news, from another source, is not very promising, but Sergt. Ryder’s many friends in Skipton will hope that later information will show that the gallant lad is being nursed and tended in one of the many military hospitals in France. Sergt. Ryder, who was educated at the Skipton Grammar School, was trained in the Skipton Town Surveyor’s Office, and at the time of joining up for the defence of Right against Might was an assistant architect in the Education Department of the West Riding County Council at Wakefield.

17 November 1916

UNKNOWN FATE OF THREE SKIPTONIANS – SERGEANT A. F. RYDER

During last weekend Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Ryder, 30, Neville Street, Skipton, received a communication from the Infantry Record Office, York, to the effect that their son, Sergeant Arthur Frederick Ryder, of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, had been posted by the War Office as ‘wounded and missing’ after the engagement in France (place not reported) on September 16th last. A few weeks ago Mr. and Mrs. Ryder had official news that their son was wounded, and their many friends will regret that the latest news is not very promising. Letters from friends at the Front indicate that Sergt. Ryder was hit a second time while trying to get through the enemy’s barrage fire, though no one appears to have actually seen him so hit.

Sergt. Ryder is an old Skipton Ermysted Grammar School boy, and prior to the War was an assistant to the County Education Architect at Wakefield. Previous to that he was in the surveyor’s department at the offices of the Skipton Urban Council. He joined the K.O.Y.L.I. on the outbreak of the War, received his training at Aldershot and other places, and first went to the Front in May 1915. On July 19th, 1915, he was wounded in the right calf by a piece of shrapnel and was invalided home. He rejoined his Battalion in December last.

In a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Ryder, Pte. Charles Sims, another Skipton soldier, says that up to the time of writing (November 4th) nothing had been heard of Sergt. Ryder since September 15th. He also states that he has made enquiries of the other men in the Platoon who went through the attack, and from these it appears that Sergt. Ryder was wounded in the hand by a bullet and that he was seen making his way back to his own trench to have the wound dressed. About this time the enemy commenced shelling the British trenches and it is thought, as indicated above, that Sergt. Ryder must have been hit a second time. “Such a thing as being taken a prisoner seems nearly impossible,” writes Pte. Sims, “as our lads went forward a long way in advance of where Arthur got hit. The Germans did not put up much of a fight after their machine guns were put out. They were only too glad to be made prisoners themselves.” He also stated that Sergt. Ryder was a splendid fellow, the finest sergeant the platoon had had, and respected by everyone. “We were the only two in this Battalion from Skipton,” he adds, “so I shall miss him very much.”

A letter from Lieut.-Col. G. Meynell, the Commanding Officer of the 6th K.O.Y.L.I., states that Sergt. Ryder was wounded in the hand on September 15th while leading his platoon in an attack. “ He is a great loss to me,” he says “for he was quite one of my best platoon sergeants. I seldom met a man with a higher sense of duty and he always set a splendid example to those under him.”

01 December 1916

RYDER – September 15th 1916, killed in action in France, Sergt. Arthur Frederick Ryder, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, only son of Mr. and Mrs. Thos. B. Ryder, of 30, Neville Street, Skipton, aged 24 years.

01 December 1916

SKIPTON'S ROLL OF HONOUR – SERGEANT ARTHUR FREDERICK RYDER

We regret to say that on Monday Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Ryder, 30, Neville Street, Skipton, received an official intimation of the death in action of their only son, Sergeant Arthur Frederick Ryder, of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. As recorded in the ‘Craven Herald’ a fortnight ago, Sergt. Ryder was previously posted by the War Office as ‘Wounded and Missing’ after an engagement in France on September 15th. He was in his twenty-fifth year.

22 December 1916

SKIPTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL’S ROLL OF HONOUR

The Christmas issue of the Skipton Grammar School Magazine contains some very fine and touching tributes to the following ‘Old Boys’ who have laid down their lives for King and Country in this great War since the previous issue of the magazine:–

Lance Corporal A. J. Metcalfe, Durham Light Infantry
Pte. C. T. W. Rigby, 11th West Riding Regiment
Rifleman Harry Tindall, King’s Royal Rifles
Sergt. A. F. Ryder, K.O.Y.L.I.
Rifleman W. M. Jowett, Rifle Brigade, New Zealand Expeditionary Force

It is also recorded with keen regret that Captain C. Waddington, 3rd East Lancashire’s, and Second-Lieut. J. L. Tibbett, R.F.C., two other old schoolboys, have been taken prisoners of war.