WW1 Military Medal Group to Ridley Royal Engineers Durham.

A very interesting WW1 British war and victory medal and the George V Military Medal for Bravery in the Field correctly named to 148387 Sapper / A Corporal James William Ridley of the A.N. Cable Section Royal Engineers.
James Ridley was born on 26th October 1891 in Southwick Sunderland. At a young age he was employed as a Coal Mine Putter, a labourer, often a boy, young man, or woman, responsible for transporting coal tubs from the working face to main haulage roads. Long days of very hard work.
So when he was enlisted into the army on the outbreak of the war, he was snapped up by the Royal Engineers as a Sapper, a digger to dig the tunnels and trenches on the western front. It is not known when he was sent to France, but it must have been in late 1915. Later he was transferred to the A. N. Cable Laying Section RE. Cable Laying Sections of the Royal Engineers Signal Service were specialized units responsible for installing telephone and telegraph cables between front-line positions and Battalion or Brigade Headquarters during World War I. They played a vital role in enabling command and control, moving from initial manual laying to sophisticated wire networks to combat the destruction of lines by shellfire. By September 1917, there were 79 sections in France, later reorganized to two per Army/Corps HQ. Each section was divided into two detachments, each equipped with a cable wagon, providing the capability to lay and maintain up to 10 miles of cable. Due to high rates of breakage from enemy artillery, they often buried cables several feet deep, particularly at road crossings. Cable laying was extremely hazardous, as crews operated frequently under enemy fire to maintain communication lines. They worked closely with signallers, who were trained to decode messages and repair breaks in the lines under fire.
As there appears to be no service documents for James, I have found a short newspaper clipping from a April 1918 Sunderland paper. It reads; ‘Wearmouth Colliery Man Awarded for Bravery. Mrs Annie Ridley was informed recently that her husband Corporal James Ridley has been awarded the medal for bravery in the field. Corporal Ridley from Southwick, is serving in the Royal Engineers. He was awarded for bravery for taking a small team to lay and repair damage cable along the front line under very heavy shell fire. He put himself in much danger to connect the line to the brigade GHQ in which action he was wounded.’
It goes on to say; ‘Corporal James William Ridley (27) was formally a minor of the Wearmouth Colliery and is married with four children. Wearmouth Colliery is owned by the Wearmouth Coal Company. It also shows the same photograph as the original that came with his medals. His military medal was published in the London gazette on 13th March 1918.
After the war James returned home to his wife Annie and his three children one, Annie giving birth to a baby boy on 13th October 1920 named James after his father. In the 1939 census James is working as a Coal Trimmer on the docks, heavy work, manually levelling coal in ship holds to ensure stability. Working in the dark and intensely dusty environments, they used shovels to flatten coal piles, preventing dangerous cargo shifts. Their dangerous labour contributed to high rates of respiratory diseases.
James died on 27th March 1957 at the General Hospital Sunderland, at the age of 66.
His three medals are in excellent condition and look as they have never been mounted or worn, probably most of the people around James never knew of his act of gallantry during the Great War.
With his medals come an original photograph, various badges

Code: 31423