WWI RMLI/RFR LSGC grouping with Defence Medal for ARP, WWII. Elmes. Poole, Dorset. Served in Gallipoli.

1915 Star correctly named PO16361 Pte SGT Elmes RMLI
Pair correctly named PO16361 L/Sgt SGT Elmes RMLI
Royal Fleet Reserve LSGC correctly named PO16361 (PLY B 1932) SGT Elmes Cpl RFR
Defence Medal unnamed as issued.

Sidney George Thomas Elmes was born to William and Mary in Poole, Dorset in 1895.

In 1911, we find the family living at 204 Lower Ham, Hamworth, Poole. Sidney is working then as a miller.

He enlists for service on the 1st of July 1912 and his address then had changed to 3 Mount Street, Poole, Dorset.

He is serving aboard HMS Britannia at the start of WWI.

Upon the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the 3rd Battle Squadron, at the time under the command of Vice-Admiral Edward Bradford, was assigned to the Grand Fleet and based at Rosyth, where it was reinforced with the five Duncan-class battleships, It was used to supplement the Grand Fleet’s cruisers on the Northern Patrol. On 6 August, the day after Britain declared war on Germany, elements of the Grand Fleet sortied to inspect the coast of Norway in search of a German naval base violating Norwegian neutrality. Britannia and the rest of the 3rd Battle Squadron provided distant support to the operation. No such base was found, and the ships returned to port the next day. On 14 August, the ships of the Grand Fleet went to sea for battle practice before conducting a sweep into the North Sea later that day and into 15 August. During sweeps by the fleet, she and her sisters often steamed at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, where they could protect the dreadnoughts by watching for mines or by being the first to strike them. On 2 November 1914, the squadron was detached to reinforce the Channel Fleet and was rebased at Portland. It returned to the Grand Fleet on 13 November 1914.

He is a part of the Expeditionary Force Gallipoli and arrives in theatre on the 19th of May 1915 until the 8th of January 1916 when hen joins the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force until March 1916.

He was to marry Mabel Rudge in 1917.

He enlists into the Royal Fleet Reserve in October 1919 and was awarded his LSGC in August 1927.

In 1939, we see him living at 41 Winterbourne Road in Poole and is a part time ARP.

Sidney died in 1976.

The group comes with some research.