Theodore Ernest Gidley 1877 - 1918

Theodore Ernest Gidley was the oldest Gidley to die and also the last. He was a Private in the Devonshire Regiment (the 9th Service Battalion) and died on October 5, 1918, aged 41. He only needed to survive another five weeks to have made it through the war.
Theodore Ernest Gidley was born on January 13, 1877, the youngest of the six sons of George Gidley and Elizabeth nee Browning. George's first trade was a journeyman cooper, then a lead miner and in 1861 he was boarding with his future wife in Christow. They later kept the Palk Arms public house at Christow, and I've written about this pub on an earlier blog post. When Theodore was only eight his father died, but his mother kept on the Palk Arms until her death in 1909, when Theodore's older brother Arthur, who had always been involved with the pub, took over the licence. Their father George Gidley, had been born in Throwleigh, Devon, and was part of the Winkleigh branch of the Gidleys. After his father's death, Theodore learned the trade of wool and corn dealing from his father's half brother, Gustavus Gidley, who lived in Honiton, Devon. In 1911 his uncle Gustavus had died, and Theodore was a commercial traveller, corn and wool, living in Taddyforde Road, Exeter. He married Florence Kate Turl from Shute, Devon in 1907 and their only child, Maurice Theodore Gidley, was born in 1908.
Theodore was buried in Prospect Hill cemetery, Gouy, Aisne, in Picardy, pictured above.. He was killed in the Final Advance. Prospect Hill Cemetery contains graves of soldiers brought in from the battlefields north of Gouy at a later date, almost all of whom had died in October 1918. This may well include Theodore. The British successfully beat off an enemy counter-attack at Gouy and were able to break through the last line of the Hindenburg system of the area.
Theodore was awarded the Victory and British medals.