Early Life
44301 Private Stephen George Ridgeway of the 2/4th Battalion, the Royal Berkshire Regiment was the son of Charles and Minnie Amelia Ridgeway, of Mount Radford, Bishopsteignton. He was born in Bishopsteignton in the June Quarter of 1899.[1]
According to the 1911 census he was listed as “George” aged 11, living with his sisters Augusta and Mabel. His father is recorded as a domestic gardener. There seems to be another Ridgeway family living and working at Ashwell – William, who was also a gardener. Could they have been brothers?
Military Experience
Stephen George enlisted first in the 1st Hampshire Regiment Service No 45848 and then in the Royal Berkshire Regiment Service No 44301.
Death and Burial
Stephen George was killed in action on the 24th June 1918 aged just 19 years.
He is buried at Saint Venant-Robecq Road British Cemetery, Robecq, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France . Plot I. C. 5. Memorial ID 25242249.
With the inscription
“Son of Charles and Minnie Amelia Ridgeway, of Radway, Bishopsteignton, Teignmouth, Devon.”
“UNTIL THE DAY BREAKS”[2]
Like so many of his compatriots he was given posthumously the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Descendants
Are you part of this Ridgeway family? Do you still have his war medals in your possession? If you have any knowledge of relatives of Stephen we would love to hear from you.
Letter from Peter Evans, Stephen George Ridgeway’s great nephew.
Peter Evans I am the great nephew of Stephen George Ridgeway named on the war memorial and details on web page.
I am following up on a post on your Facebook page regarding Stephen George Ridgeway who died during ww1 in 1918.
A lot of my information is slightly vague but I can tell you about his family as far as I can.
Stephen’s sister Mabel is my grandmother and she lived in the village for some years. She married my grandfather George who died in 1965 (the year I was born) and became Mabel Evans. It is my belief they ran a shop in the village but I do not have any more information about it. They had one son – my father Stephen George Evans who became well known for being a pianist and use to play the organ in the church as a youngster. He travelled a lot as a musician. He was an old friend of Sheila Robbins who could probably tell you more about him as a youngster in the village.
Stephen (Steve) married twice and the second marriage was to my mother.
From his first marriage he had two children – Steve and Julie. From his marriage to my mother he had four of us – Paul, Jayne, Jillian and myself Peter. He has 11 grandchildren and so far 8 great grandchildren spread throughout the UK.
I live 1 Mile away in Teignmouth and would be interested to hear more about the history of my family in the village. My mother and father are now buried in Bishop cemetery and Amelia who is George’s sister is buried the churchyard – she never had children and I believe she died at at young age (I remember gran saying she had fits (epilepsy) I am not sure this was the cause of her death though).