300889 Cpl. Alix Oliffe Liddle British Army 18th Btn. Durham Light Infantry from:Sylvan Grove, Darlington (d.16th Dec 1914) Pte Liddle was killed during the Bombardment of Hartlepools and is buried in West Cemetery, Darlington. Alix Liddle was born in Darlington in 1889 the youngest son of Frances and James Liddle of Middleton Tyas. He married Clara Main on the 27th of april 1914. Before the war he was employed by Pease and Partners as a clerk in the accountants office. “At 8am on Wednesday, December 16, 1914, three German warships appeared out of the mist shrouding the sea off Hartlepool and, from a mile out, opened fire. It was a brutal exercise by the Germans to frighten complacent British civilians, who believed the war would be concluded in their favour by Christmas. The first shell, fired by the battle cruiser Seydlitz, landed beside the Heugh battery on the Headland and killed four members of the Durham Pals outright. They were, in alphabetical order, Privates Charles Clark and Theophilis Jones, both of West Hartlepool; Corporal Alix Liddle, of Darlington, and Private Leslie Turner, of Newcastle. The likelihood is that all four, including the colliery clerk from Darlington, died simultaneously. First, second, third or fourth, it matter not to Clara back home in Sylvan Grove. The following morning she received a telegram – official intimation from the War Office – saying Alix had been killed in action. After eight months of marriage, she was a widow. Seydlitz’s second shell landed practically in the same place as the first beside the Heugh Battery, killing four men who had gone to help their colleagues. They were Gunner William Houston, who was born in Middlesbrough; Gunner Robert Spence, born in West Hartlepool; Private Thomas Minks, from Middlesbrough, and Private Walter Rogers, who was born in Bishop Auckland." Northern Echo.
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