Sydney Walter was born in London in 1893, the son of Godfrey and Edith Walter, of Malshanger near Basingstoke, whose ancestral family had founded The Times in 1785.

In 1901, Sydney was with his parents in London at 11 Green Street, Hanover Square, as his father Godfrey was still connected with the paper. Sydney was at Eton from 1906 until 1911 where he had a successful school career and was good at sports. He then went to the RMA Sandhurst.

Having been gazetted to the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards in 1913, 2nd Lieutenant Walter later went to France - embarking on the 4th October 1914 and arriving at Zeebrugge three days afterwards. He was killed in action on 25th October near Kruiseik. Only 63 out of 250 of his company survived the attack. Sydney was awarded the 1914 Star and the British War and Victory Medals.

The reason that Sydney is remembered in East Tisted is that his younger sister became Lady Kathleen Scott, wife of Sir Jervoise Bolitho Scott of Rotherfield. 2nd Lieutenant Sydney Walter is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial - Panels 9 and 11.

Source: “The Remembered Ones of the Great War”, 2014, The Alton and Villages Local History Forum (with permission)