Eric Charles Riddle was born in Uppingham on 15 September 1895, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Riddle. His father had been a postman in Uppingham until his retirement when he and his wife moved to Southsea. Eric, who had three elder sisters and one younger brother, worked as a silversmith. He joined the Leicestershire Regiment nearly two years before the start of the First World War, on 30 December 1912. He later transferred to the Royal Army Medical Corps and went to Aldershot for training. After a year or so he was sent to the military hospital at The Curragh in Ireland, where he stayed until the outbreak of war. Early in August 1914, Eric was attached to the Hussars and went to France on 15 August, where he took part in the Battle of Mons. During the Retreat he lost his unit and was picked up by another company of the Hussars, with whom he remained. Eventually he was attached to the 3rd Cavalry Field Ambulance. He died on 30 December 1917 from pneumonia aged 22. One of his friends wrote: "He was to many of us as a brother, so amiable and cheerful, even in the most trying and depressing conditions, and by his death the unit has lost their most respected and popular comrade." Eric was buried in the C'erisy-Gailly Military Cemetery, near Bray-sur-Somme, grave I.C.35, and is remembered on Uppingham's war memorial.