Coventry War Memorial Park Plaque - 8
Private Matthew Lawrence Windridge Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Matthew Lawrence Windridge was born on Tuesday 24th September 1895 in Coventry, son of William, a Pattern Maker and Harriet nee Evitts. He was one of ten children, William born in 1894, Lily Kathleen 1899, Doris Butler 1901, Violet Evelyn 1904, Ivy Winifred 1906, Arthur Leonard 1910, Georgina Mary 1915 and two other siblings, Artie John (1897) and Ethel May (1908-09) who died in infancy. The family lived at 8 Radford Road in the city.
Matthew was Baptised with William on 5th April 1896 at Holy Trinity Church in Coventry by Llewellyn Wood and in 1901 the family were living at 13 Lamb Street and in 1911 at Springfield Towers, Shustoke, Coleshill.
At the outbreak of World War I on 4th August 1914 William and Matthew, aged 19 enlisted into the Army, William in the Army Service Corps and Matthew into the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a Private and with service number 2805. After initial training he was posted to western Front and entered France 19th June 1915.
He fought on the Western Front enduring inhuman conditions for two years until The Battle of Poelcappelle that was fought in Flanders, Belgium, on 9 October 1917 by the British Second Army and Fifth Army against the German 4th Army. The battle marked the end of the string of highly successful British attacks in late September and early October, during the Third Battle of Ypres.
Only the supporting attack in the north achieved a substantial advance. On the main front the German defences withstood the limited amount of artillery fire achieved by the British after the attack of 4 October. The ground along the main ridges had been severely damaged by shelling and rapidly deteriorated in the rains, which began again on 3 October, turning some areas back into swamps.
Dreadful ground conditions had more effect on the British, who needed to move large amounts of artillery and ammunition to support the next attack. The battle was a defensive success for the 4th Army, although costly to both sides.
The weather and ground conditions put severe strain on all the infantry involved and led to many wounded being stranded on the battlefield. Matthew died on 9th October 1917 aged 22 in these horrendous conditions and his was body never found. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial (so named as the Tommies likened the German pill boxes in the areas to Cottages lived in by workers from Tyneside) near Passchendaele
The stone wall surrounding the cemetery makes-up the memorial to the missing, one of several Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorials to the Missing along the Western Front. The UK missing lost in the Ypres Salient are commemorated at the Menin Gate memorial and the Tyne Cot Memorial. On completion of the Menin Gate, builders discovered it was not large enough to contain all the names as originally planned. They selected a cut-off date of 15th August 1917 and the names of the UK missing after this date were inscribed on the Tyne Cot memorial instead.
Matthew as posthumously awarded the 1914-15 Star, 1914-18 British War and Victory Medals. He was also commemorated on a plaque in the Coventry War Memorial Park.
Matthew was Baptised with William on 5th April 1896 at Holy Trinity Church in Coventry by Llewellyn Wood and in 1901 the family were living at 13 Lamb Street and in 1911 at Springfield Towers, Shustoke, Coleshill.
At the outbreak of World War I on 4th August 1914 William and Matthew, aged 19 enlisted into the Army, William in the Army Service Corps and Matthew into the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a Private and with service number 2805. After initial training he was posted to western Front and entered France 19th June 1915.
He fought on the Western Front enduring inhuman conditions for two years until The Battle of Poelcappelle that was fought in Flanders, Belgium, on 9 October 1917 by the British Second Army and Fifth Army against the German 4th Army. The battle marked the end of the string of highly successful British attacks in late September and early October, during the Third Battle of Ypres.
Only the supporting attack in the north achieved a substantial advance. On the main front the German defences withstood the limited amount of artillery fire achieved by the British after the attack of 4 October. The ground along the main ridges had been severely damaged by shelling and rapidly deteriorated in the rains, which began again on 3 October, turning some areas back into swamps.
Dreadful ground conditions had more effect on the British, who needed to move large amounts of artillery and ammunition to support the next attack. The battle was a defensive success for the 4th Army, although costly to both sides.
The weather and ground conditions put severe strain on all the infantry involved and led to many wounded being stranded on the battlefield. Matthew died on 9th October 1917 aged 22 in these horrendous conditions and his was body never found. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial (so named as the Tommies likened the German pill boxes in the areas to Cottages lived in by workers from Tyneside) near Passchendaele
The stone wall surrounding the cemetery makes-up the memorial to the missing, one of several Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorials to the Missing along the Western Front. The UK missing lost in the Ypres Salient are commemorated at the Menin Gate memorial and the Tyne Cot Memorial. On completion of the Menin Gate, builders discovered it was not large enough to contain all the names as originally planned. They selected a cut-off date of 15th August 1917 and the names of the UK missing after this date were inscribed on the Tyne Cot memorial instead.
Matthew as posthumously awarded the 1914-15 Star, 1914-18 British War and Victory Medals. He was also commemorated on a plaque in the Coventry War Memorial Park.
Matthew Lawrence Windridge's old and replacement plaques Coventry Memorial Park April 2021
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This page last updated 17 Jun 21