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The 12-Year-Old English Boy Who Fought In World War I
Throughout history, there have been regular accounts of exceedingly young people running away to fight during wars
War is undoubtedly terrible for all involved. Such conflict can touch people of all ages as sides can go to extraordinary lengths and sacrifice to gain the upper hand. Particularly in the past, there have been instances where soldiers were exceedingly young. One of the most unusual such cases was that of Sidney Lewis, a 12-year-old native of England who fought for months in World War I before his mother had him tracked him down and forced his return home.
Lasting from 1914–1918, World War I, the first true conflict to span the globe was one of almost impossibly bloody consequences. It’s believed that there may have been in excess of 40 million casualties, including 15–24 million deaths and around 23 million wounded. Countries engaged in the fighting looked for soldiers wherever they could find them as long as they could meet some criteria. While that criteria typically included a minimum age, some were able to get around that by lying about when they were born.
Sidney Lewis appears to have been one of the youngest; just 12 when he signed up for service without his parents consent, presenting himself as an older youth. Born in 1903, the Briton joined the East Surrey Regiment in August, 1915, running away from home in order to secure his enlistment. The army, believing he was older, had him right amongst the fighting men doing his part on the lines. Part of what helped sell his story that he was older was that he was a lumbering lad, eventually growing to be a stocky 6'2" as an adult. Historian Richard van Emden has estimated that the boy was one of around 250,000 British soldiers who joined the ranks when they were underaged. He just happened to have been the youngest.
In 1916, when he was 13, he fought in the costly Battle of Delville Woods as part of the 106th Machine Gun Company of the Machine Gun Corps. The skirmish produced some of the highest casualty rates of the war.
While some parents of underaged soldiers supported their enlisted boys as potential socioeconomic opportunity and patriotism, such was not the case with Lewis. After he left…
