Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Brigadier-General J. F. Riddell, late Northumberland Fusiliers, commanding the Northumberland Infantry Brigade, killed in action by a sniper on 26 April 1915, just 5 days after taking his men to France, whilst leading the attack over open ground swept by fire of all levels to take the village of St Julien

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Hazara 1888 (Lt. J. F. Riddell 2d Bn. North’d Fus.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, South Africa 1902 (Major J. F. Riddell. North’d Fus:) rivets unofficial; 1914-15 Star (Brig. Gen. J. F. Riddell.); British War and Victory Medals (Brig. Gen. J. F. Riddell.) the first two very fine, otherwise extremely fine (5) £1600-1800

James Foster Riddell, 149th (1st/1st Northumberland) Infantry Brigade General Staff, late 2nd/5th Northumberland Fusiliers was killed in action 26 April 1915, aged 52, and is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, Belgium.

The only son of the late John Riddell, Esq., of the old Border family of Riddell of Ridel, Roxburghshire, he was born on 17 October 1861, and was educated at Wellington and the R.M.C., Sandhurst, from which College he was gazetted in his nineteenth year to a commission in the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1881, Captain in 1887, Major in 1900, Lieutenant-Colonel in 1904, and Colonel in 1907.

He served in the Hazara campaign of 1888, was mentioned in Despatches and received the medal with clasp. He next saw active service in the South African War and received the Queen’s medal with three clasps. During that war he also raised the 3rd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, which he afterwards commanded. On this battalion being disbanded after the South African War, Colonel Riddell was given the command of the 2nd Battalion, in which he finished his term of command in the regiment, having served with the Northumberland Fusiliers for almost thirty years.

His next command was in July, 1911, when he was appointed Brigade Commander of the Northumberland Infantry Brigade, and on the outbreak of war in August, 1914, Colonel Riddell was one of the first Colonels to be gazetted Brigadier-General.

Throughout the winter of 1914-15 General Riddell was training his men for active service and guarding that part of the N.E. Coast behind which lie the vast military and munition resources of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

On the night of the 20th-21st April, 1915, General Riddell crossed with his Brigade to France. On the 26th - not a week later - he was killed in the second battle of Ypres, falling where the fighting was thickest, giving the lead to his men. It had, of course, been intended that the Brigade should be quartered for a month or so at a base abroad, as are all large units at first. But on the 22nd April the Germans had delivered their first poisonous gas attack and the Brigade was rushed up at all costs into the firing line. By Sunday 25th, after a forced night’s march, it was at close quarters with the enemy, helping to close the great gap torn in our line. All that day General Riddell was going about among his men, wherever the fire was hottest, inspiring the whole Brigade with his extraordinary and absolute coolness. Officers and men alike speak of this marvellous coolness and entire disregard of danger.

‘The General was the bravest man any of us are likely to see,’ wrote his Brigade Major. ‘Of his behaviour and example the day before, 25th April, which was magnificent, I should like to tell you,’ wrote one of the Adjutants. ‘Next day, April 26th, orders were received about 2 p.m. at Brigade Headquarters that the Brigade was to attack and retake the village of St. Julien, a frontal attack over open ground swept by shell, machine-gin and rifle fire. At 3 o’clock General Riddell decided that he must go forward into the firing line.’ His Brigade Major says: ‘I did all that I could to stop him going into what I knew was almost certain death, but it was of no avail, as he was too brave a man to think of self under the circumstances.’

General Riddell reached his men, who were suffering very severely under the murderous fire, and with his stick in his hand, a mark for every sniper, he stepped out before them giving his men the lead. An eye-witness relates that even the wounded rose to their feet to follow him. But as this eye-witness says, ‘the end was inevitable,’ and in a few minutes General Riddell fell, the bullet entering the cap just close to the fatally conspicuous gilt flap.

Field-Marshal Sir John French in addressing the Northumberland Infantry Brigade, said: ‘The Northumberland Infantry Brigade particularly distinguished themselves under the leadership of Brigadier-General Riddell, whose loss we all deplore so much. He fell at the head of his Brigade while leading you to attack the village of St. Julien. I deeply deplore the loss of one of the most gallant officers that ever lived and one of the best leaders.’

An old brother officer writing in the Regimental Magazine wrote: ‘Throughout his life he was a master soldier. No finer company officer ever lived or one who understood his men better, no truer-hearted or more loyal comrade ever breathed.’

Fond of all sport, he was pre-eminently a good horseman, a very hard rider to hounds and a fine polo player. In 1912 General Riddell married Margaret, daughter of the late Sir Henry Hall Scott. Brigadier-General Riddell was buried in the Ypres salient and the place marked by a cross. (Largely extracted from The Bond of Sacrifice, Volume 2)