Lance Corporal George Sidney Atkins
The background of George Sidney Atkins is not known at present, other than that he stated, in 1918, that he was born on 27 March 1879 at Walsall, Staffordshire.
Atkins enlisted in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons at some point in the 1890s (No.4235). He served in the Boer War, where he was made a prisoner of war (released on 25 July 1901).
It appears that he was posted to the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) at the beginning of the war, embarking for France on 9 September 1914. He later returned to England, probably in March 1915 after having been hospitalised with frostbite. After he recovered he was again posted to the Inniskillings.
Atkins re-embarked for France at the end of June 1916, having been posted to the headquarters establishment of the 2nd North Irish Horse Regiment following the formation of that regiment in France from C and F Squadrons and the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons Service Squadron. The headquarters, formed in England and comprising 40 officers and men, joined the new regiment in France at the beginning of July.
The 2nd North Irish Horse Regiment served as corps cavalry to X Corps until August-September 1917, when the regiment was disbanded and its men were transferred to the Royal Irish Fusiliers, an infantry regiment. Most, including Atkins, were transferred on 20 September and posted to the 9th (Service) Battalion – renamed the 9th (North Irish Horse) Battalion – joining it in the field at Ruyaulcourt five days later. Atkins was issued regimental number 41073 and posted to A Company.
He probably saw action with the battalion at the Battle of Cambrai in November and December 1917.
Atkins was one of the many posted as missing following the 9th (NIH) Battalion's fighting withdrawal from St Quentin from 21 to 28 March 1918 during the German spring offensive. It was later learned that he had been captured, unwounded, on 27 March at Erches, near Roye, when much of the battalion had been overwhelmed by the fast-moving German advance. He remained a prisoner until the end of the war, held at camps in Giessen and Limburg.