Frederick Charles Wood Rideout

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Chief of Factory Police

Birthplace Madras IndiaPlace of Death Tangiers Morroco Date of Birth: April 12, 1859 Date of Death: July 19, 1943

Biography

Full name of worker at H.M. Factory Gretna (and any other names they are known by): Colonel Frederick Charles Wood Rideout

Gender: Male

Date and Place of Birth: 04/12/1859 Madras, India

Date and Place of Death: 19/07/1943 Tangiers, Morocco

Nationality: British

Biography

Childhood:

Parents: General John Wood and Amy Rideout

Parent’s occupations: British Army General (father)

Schools / universities attended and years of attendance:

Clifton College, Bristol

Occupation: Officer in the Indian Army

Place of residence at Gretna: “A Bungalow”

Job title at Gretna: Chief/Commandant of Gretna Police Force

Marital status: Married Harriett Maria (nee Norie) Rideout 23/11/1886 and Lucy Alice (formerly Oldham) Rideout Spring 1939.

Children: Catherine Francis (b.1888) and Evelyn de Sanci (b.1891)

Travels: India, Spain, Morocco

Awards/recognitions: N/K

Trivia / any other information:

Further links, notes, and comments:

Colonel Frederick Charles Wood Rideout

Frederick Charles Wood Rideout served as an officer in the Indian Army. Following his retirement, during the First World War he was chief of the police force at HM Gretna. After the war he lived abroad with his second wife.

Frederick was born in Madras, India on 4th December 1859, the son of General John Wood and Amy Rideout. He was sent to school at Clifton College in Bristol, before returning to India and beginning a career in the Indian Army. He became a Gentleman Cadet in 1879, rising to become a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1905. Britain’s Indian Army was separate to the British Army, and was charged to protect British interests, and those of her Indian allies, in the sub-continent.

He married Harriett Maria Norie, a Colonel’s daughter from Midlothian, on the 23rd November 1886 in Brompton, London. They had a daughter, Catherine Frances (b.1888) and a son Evelyn de Sanci (b.1891) (1).

Frederick served in various colonial campaigns, including on the North West Frontier, Burma, and in the relief of the Peking legations, during the Boxer Rebellion. He retired from the Indian Army in 1909 and lived in Buckinghamshire.

During the War Frederick was appointed chief of the police force at Gretna. He was in post by May 1916, as he was involved in a road traffic accident at Springfield, when Peter Flynn was killed. The inquest heard that Mr. Flynn was under the influence of alcohol and staggered out in front of Frederick’s car and was killed instantly (2). In August 1916 Frederick opened a jumble sale in aid of Gretna Parish Church as a stand-in for E. E. Pearson (3).

At Gretna, Frederick shared a bungalow with Lieutenant Norman Oldham and his wife Lucy. After the War, Frederick, Norman and Lucy all worked for the Ministry of Food. In the early 1920’s, Frederick and Harriett moved in with the Oldhams at their home in Surrey, as paying guests. In October 1925, Norman successfully sued Lucy for divorce citing her relationship with Frederick, who she referred to as A.D., for “adopted daddy” (4).

Frederick appears to have left Harriett and lived with Lucy for the rest of is life. They seem to have lived mostly in Spain or Spanish Morrocco, but frequently returned to Britain, via Gibraltar. Although Lucy took Frederick’s name, it would appear that he and Harriett didn’t divorce. It was only after Harriett’s death in January 1939 in Egypt, that Frederick and Lucy married at Holborn Registry Office in Spring 1939. They then returned to Tangiers 11th March 1939.

Frederick died on the 19th June 1943 at his home in Tangiers. Lucy re-married in September, the year after, to Leonard Hartley in Dorking.