Sydney was born on 24 March 1889 to parents William Carlin, a dry salter, and Caroline Carlin. He and the family grew up at no. 23 Hutt Street with two servants. In his youth he attended Eton House School on Albany Street, before being enrolled at Hull Grammar in September 1899.
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| Image: Hutt Street, c.1890s. Paul Gibson Collection. |
many of the 18th will remember with no great feelings of pleasure their sojourn on that wind-swept ridge… [C. Burnett, The Memoirs of the 18th Royal Hussars, 1906 -1922, 1926, p. 2.]
Upon returning Sydney began working as a farm labourer and attended an engineering class at Hull Technical College.
On the 19th after a few days fighting and intensive shelling Sydney was once again wounded. For the following action he was awarded the Military Cross:
He shot down his first enemy aircraft on 13 June 1918 and afterwards became rather a specialist in shooting down observation balloons. Under these balloons observers would be suspended, looking out for enemy movements. They were filled with hydrogen gas which was ignited by the tracer rounds carried by the pilots. They were often heavily defended from the ground with anti-aircraft guns, and it was extremely dangerous to attack them. Sydney however:
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| Image: Hull Municipal Technical College. [L RH/2/319] |
He continued his farming work in Brewholme north of Hornsea but when war broke out, he re-enlisted into his old regiment:
He did not want to spend any time training in England with a new unit, but desired to get out to France at the earliest possible moment…[HDM, Newspaper Collection, 26 Sept 1918.]
By the time Sydney had joined the 18th they had already taken part in the Battle of Mons and were in retreat towards Paris. The battle which he had just missed was an attempt by the British forces to stop the German advance who had now entered neutral Belgium. Upon reaching the outskirts of Paris an unusual sight was noted by the men of the 18th:
…passing the outer fortifications and watching the morning trains take their quota of business men into the city. Fighting seemed very unreal in these surroundings…[Burnett, The Memoirs of the 18th Royal Hussars, p. 2.]
By March 1915 Sydney had taken part in several battles including, the Battle of Marne and the Battle of Messines, some of the most important battles in the early war, in which the 18th were, at times, also fighting as dismounted infantry not cavalrymen. There was a general lull in fighting over the winter months of November-February, but Sydney found himself back in the thick if it during the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge, which was an attempt by the Germans to gain significant ground in the Ypres sector, in addition to divert the Allies attention away from their offensive actions in Spain. The following is an extract from the 18ths War Diary, on the 13 May 1915, while manning the front lines at Wieltje, northeast of Ypres:
In trenches. At 3.30am the enemy opened a very heavy shell fire on the front trenches…Considerable lengths of trenches…were demolished by cross fire from the heavy howitzers…All communication was cut…the Essex Regt came up to occupy the line which was supposed to be abandoned [such was the severity of the attack] but the 18 Hussars were found to be still in possession…during the remainder of the day the remnants of the Regt held…The bombardment of the 18 Hussars trenches was of such intensity that a black pall hung over them for long periods from 3.30am until about 10am, when heavy intermittent shelling continued till dark. The noise was deafening and the place a veritable inferno… [TNA, WO95/1113/1]
Later that day they were relived and moved back to Ypres; they had lost more than 150 men in less than 15 hours. For his role in this action, Sydney was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), his citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry…under very heavy shell fire.- Although severely wounded, he refused to leave the firing line and kept the troop together in a very exposed position, with the trenches demolished-on both sides, after all his seniors had been killed. He gave a fine example of courage and devotion to duty. - [Edinburgh Gazette, 1214, 12841]
The medal was one of the highest obtainable by non-officers. Second only to the Victoria Cross. Wounded in the head he was hospitalised before coming back to Hull for a period of leave. He returned to the war in September 1915, though this time putting his engineering skills to use, he joined the East Riding Fortress Royal Engineers on a commission, a volunteer unit of the Royal Engineers. The unit was part of the North Eastern Coast Defences whose personnel were used to form the 1/1 East Riding Field Company, which was posted to France later that month, Sydney joined them in February 1916.
Part of 3 Division, 13 Corps, the unit undertook vital works on the front lines and transport routes, such as repair works and the construction of trenches, dugouts, communication lines, building shelters etc. Over the course of the next 5 months, Sydney took part in the following actions:
- Actions of St. Eloi Craters
- Gas attacks at Wulverghem
- Battle of the Bazentin (part of the Somme Offensive)
- Battle of Albert (part of the Somme Offensive)
Lastly, the Battle of Delville Wood, also referred to as Devils Wood, which started on 15 July 1916. The wood had to be captured before the British Forces could push on and attack key German positions. Significant losses were undertaken on the first two days before orders were then given for 13 Corps to seize the wood and advance on the areas of Ginchy and Guillemont. This included the 1/1 East Riding Field Force.
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| Image: British trench map showing the areas of Longueval and Delville Wood on 21 Julst 1916. CC-BY: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101465191
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On the 19th after a few days fighting and intensive shelling Sydney was once again wounded. For the following action he was awarded the Military Cross:
For conspicuous gallantry during operations. Under continuous shell fire he laid out a fire trench, brought up his section, dug the trench, and with his men held it against a counter-attack. He was seriously wounded. [Edinburgh Gazette, 13001, 1885]
His left leg had been partially blown away by a shell. He was transported by ambulance train to no. 1 Red Cross Hospital at Le Tourqet, on the northwest coast of France. From here he was transported by ship to one of the London War Hospitals. His parents received word a few days after his injury.
Carlin spent the following months recuperating, however, not wishing to stand by and do nothing, but no longer fit for infantry service, he sought to become a pilot. He would have seen aircraft above him when fighting with the Hussars in France, which may have given him the idea. He sold his house at Brewholme and joined the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) after paying for his own pilot’s license. By August 1917, he was deemed fit as a pilot.
At the end of the month he was posted to no. 1 School of Aeronautics, Reading where he received preliminary training and taught the theoretical aspects of flight such as, map reading, gunnery and mechanics, navigation etc. Two months later and he was posted to the Central Flying School, Upavon on Salisbury Plain where he became an instructor. With pilot casualties and aircraft losses mounting through the first half 1918, instructors such as Sydney were called upon to the Front. In preparation, he was sent to no. 2 School of Fighting and Gunnery near Middlesborough before being posted to no. 74 Squadron RAF in May 1918, a fighter squadron. He joined them in France at the end of the month.
The squadron flew SE5 fighter aircraft based out of Clairmarais, near St Omer, France, in the Ypres Sector. Ira Jones, squadron pilot recalled that on arrival, the squadron commander christened him ‘Timber-toes’ on account of his wooden leg! [An Air Fighter’s Scrapbook, I. Jones, 2013, p. 84].
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| Image: Cockpit of an S.E.5 single-seat fighter. [©IWM (Q67871)] |
…is never satisfied unless he has a go at a balloon, if there are no Huns about…To bring a balloon down is worth three Huns. [Tiger Squadron, I. Jones, 1954, p. 151]
On the 5th August, Sydney and a few others from 74 Squadron were to head to Wing HQ. The King was going to be there the following day for an inspection of the pilots.
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| Image: Lt Carlin with his cane (2nd from right) meets King George V on the Western Front, 06 August 1918. [©IWM (Q 12099)] |
This same month he had a period of leave back in Hull and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), although not officially reported until November, which read:
A gallant and determined pilot, who sets a fine example to his squadron. Though handicapped…he is bold and skilful in attack, and has destroyed four balloons and shot down two enemy machines. [Edinburgh Gazette, 13346, 4053]
By early September Sydney had officially become a balloon buster ace, with 5 takedowns, not including his aircraft victories.
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| Image: German observation balloon falling in flames. [©IWM (Q 54468)] |
Later that month, an accident nearly led to Sydney and his commanding officer’s death. Aerial combats were complicated affairs when bunch formations of aircraft were attacking one another and on one occasion, Sydney collided mid-air with his squadron commanders’ machine (though he thought it was a German) when they both attacked the same enemy aircraft. Sydney managed to nurse his aircraft back with part of the tail torn off. However, on being told who he collided with he was so distressed that he wished to go shoot up a German aerodrome.
…It was only by directly putting his plane out of action that Sydney was kept on the ground. [An Air Fighter’s Scrapbook, p. 77-78].
When word arrived later that he had survived, Sydney passed out with relief. [ibid]. Sydney’s last flight of the war came on the 21 September 1918, whilst on patrol with pilots from his squadron Sydney and the others were attacked by 20 enemy aircraft whilst over Lille.
in a desperate duel in which several Fokkers were shot down, Carlin was hit in the head at about 18,000ft. He dropped down to 7,000ft before regaining consciousness, only to find that he had several Fokkers still in attendance….Fate was against him, for he just missed reaching safety, crashing…in the German barbed wire. Quickly releasing his wooden leg, and aided by our infantry…Carlin made a valiant effort to get through the barbed wire. While doing so he was struck with a rifle butt and taken prisoner. [An Air Fighter’s Scrapbook, p. 84-85].
He was taken prisoner at La Bassee southwest of Lille. His parents received word a few days later from the Squadron Commander, who stated that Sydney was the biggest loss to the unit since being in France. [HDM Newspaper Collection, 27 Sept 1918] He was initially taken to the PoW camp at Karlsruhe, which was 500km south-west of where he was captured. The camp was not too far from the French border. By October he had been moved 300km east to Landshut camp, Bavaria. Sydney was repatriated in December 1918, and arrived at the Leith repatriation camp near Edinburgh after which he was taken to the central RAF Hospital in Hamstead, London.
In August 1919 he relinquished his commission on account of ill health and returned to East Yorkshire where he continued his passion of farming at Lissett. In 1921, Sydney took part in the famed Kiplingcoates race, known as the oldest horse race in the country, it is rode near Market Weighton in all weather conditions over 4 miles. Sydney was riding his mount Molecatcher and raced against 3 others. He came second in the race and despite the winning purse being larger for second place than for first he immediately challenged the winner to another race. [Yorkshire and Leeds Intelligencer, Newspaper, 18 March 1921]
After farming in East Yorkshire for the previous few years Sydney was interested in a new challenge. By early October he was living at the Bell Hotel, Driffield, settling his affairs. Later that month he boarded the S.S. Madura in London headed for Mombasa, Kenya on the east coast of Africa to farm. He held a large farm south of Lumbwa station, in deep west Kenya, an area known for its agriculture and stock raising. At this time many Europeans were hostile to the native Africans but Sydney:
…had many African squatters working on the farm, and he had allowed [them] to establish an elementary school for their children’s education. [Kenya: from colonization to independence, 1888-1970, p. 214]
Upon his death later, he left in his will significant sums of money to his African farm managers and workers. [ibid] He also volunteered for the Kenyan Defence Force, was a Justice of the Peace, joined the District Road Board, and was an unofficial member of the Board of Agriculture during his time in Kenya. He returned to Hull a number of times until in 1937 he acquired a yacht and left his Kenyan farm in the hands of a relative. His vessel, named Restless which seems to have summed up Sydney quite well, allowed him to sail around the west coast of Africa and the South Pacific prospecting for gold and pearl shell diving before making his way to Malta in 1939 [HDM, Newspaper Collection, 16 May 1941].
On the eve of war, he joined the Maltese Royal Artillery’s anti-aircraft regiment before submitting a request to be transferred to the RAF and a return to flying. He was granted a commission in the RAF based on his previous service. He was 51 years old at this point and would only be allowed a role as a gunner. He flew back to the UK in mid-1940. He was posted to no. 264 Squadron RAF.
About this time we received a small sunburnt gunner, who had a wooden leg and a long history…and here he was with us in that noble but dangerous position of a junior air gunner. [The Sky Suspended, A Fighter Pilot’s Story, J. Bailey, 2005, p. 48.]
The squadron flew Boulton Paul Defiant’s out of RAF Hornchurch in Essex and carried out patrols across the southern coast all the way up to East Riding. The aircraft was a defensive fighter built to counter the German bombing threat that was decimating the countries towns and ports. It had a rear turret operated by a gunner; the role Sydney would play in the Battle of Britain.
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| Image: Sydney Carlin in the turret of a 264 Squadron Defiant at Kirton in Lindsey, August 1940. [© IWM (CH 878)] |
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| Image:264 Squadron Defiants in formation, August 1940. [©IWM (CH 884)] |
His first operational flight came at the end of August on patrol near Rochford after which he was detached to the Central Gunnery School in Dorset before returning to the squadron at the start of October. The squadron generally operated at night where it was less susceptible to enemy fighters and Sydney flew on a number of patrols over the following months. The squadron downed a number of enemy fighters during the Battle of Britain. At the start of January, he was posted to no. 151 Squadron RAF based at Wittering, Peterborough.
Here Sydney spent much of his time patrolling the night skies over Britain in order to stop the Luftwaffe bombing raids. The squadron went up against various German light bombers in their attempts to protect Britain. As well as patrols he carried out night and weather flying tests, fighter patrols, recces, formation flying, interception exercise, and dusk/night landings. By May however, the Germans had increased their bombing raids significantly. The May Blitz of Hull and Liverpool were some of the most ferocious of the war. Consequently, 151 squadron patrols were extended northwards to help. Whilst on a patrol on the 7th Sydney, his pilot, and another Defiant came across at least 6 German medium bombers whilst patrolling over Hull. Two of the aircraft were downed and another three were intercepted by Sydney’s aircraft. His pilot was unable to bring the aircraft around for the turret to get an angle on the bombers. The Defiant had no forward guns and the German pilots knew this, Sydney was unable to take them down. The squadrons base was also bombed.
The following day, 8 May 1941 a single Ju88, one of the most versatile German aircraft of the war manged to slip by the defences headed for the RAF Wittering. With no time to get to their aircraft after it released 8 anti-personnel bombs above the airfield, station personnel took cover, except Sydney.
...instead he cycled furiously to a parked Defiant at dispersal. Here, he was climbing into his turret with his four power-operated .303 Browning machine guns when the bombs detonated nearby. His intention was to engage the enemy aircraft from his turret while still on the ground… [Lone Wolf, Britain’s Greatest Night fighter Ace of the Blitz, A. Saunders, 2019]
Sydney was mortally wounded having his right arm blown off and died the following day. He was 52 years old when his body was brought back to Hull and cremated.
His loss is felt by all.
[151 Sqn ORB, TNA, AIR 27/1019/9]
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