Sam Redding was born in Cambridge in January 1884 and Baptised on the 7th December 1884, he was the son of William Redding and Elizabeth (nee Webb) who lived on Bristol Road. He enlisted in the Army on 21st September 1900, aged just 16 at West Down Camp, Wiltshire. Like many of his peers, Sam lied about his age, claiming to be 18½ years old when he enlisted. He joined the 6th Dragoon Guards and served at Canterbury, York, Cape Town, Madras and Bangalore before he left the Army, probably in 1908. We can find no record of his demob but we do know he was back in Cambridge, working as a groom, in time for the 1911 census.
He married Beatrice Priday in January 1913 and Dorothy Zena was born later in that year. An article in the Gloucester Journal on Saturday, 17th January 1914 suggests the marriage was in trouble after just a year. Sam was called before the Dursley Petty Sessions to answer a summons issued by his wife. The case was adjourned on behalf of the complainant on production of a doctor's certificate and we can find no evidence of any further appearances.
He re-enlisted on 6th October 1914, once again with the 6th Dragoon Guards. His Army Medal Card shows he was awarded the Victory, British War and 1914/15 medals while serving with the Army Service Corps (Cyclist Corps) and Labour Corps before being medically discharged on 29th January 1919.
Sam's medical record shows that he had been identified with tubercle of the lung in 1916 leading to 100% disablement. He had been in a sanatorium for two months before his discharge complaining of pains in his chest, shortness of breath, coughing and expectoration, all signs confirming he suffered from tuberculosis. There is no indication of why Sam remained in the Army from his disablement until his discharge in 1919 although that was probably the time he spent in the Labour Corps. Sam was a patient at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Over and he died of tuberculosis on 24th April 1920.
The funeral took place at St John's Slimbridge and was 'largely attended'. Ex-servicemen acted as bearers and a party of members of the Slimbridge Branch of the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers also attended.
Samuel Redding is commemorated on the Slimbridge War Memorial, and buried in the Graveyard, but had no gravestone. Slimbridge Local History Society located the site of his burial worked with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission who erected a Headstone on the 12th April 2022..