Sydney grew up in Durants Cottages, off Melling Lane, Maghull, the son of Peter and Sarah, nee Martland. He was employed on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway at Aintree. He served as a rifleman with the King’s (Liverpool Regiment). It is thought that he died on the day before fellow Maghull soldier James Mason whilst attacking the same area of German trench. He has no known grave. His name is one of those on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.