Chief Petty Officer Sidney Wise was born in the Parish of St. Michael's in Sussex in November 1861 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in November 1876. Advanced to Boy 1st Class in late 1877, he joined the Ship's Company of H.M.S. Boadicea in May 1878 and, apart from a brief interlude with the Flora, remained so employed until April 1882, thereby qualifying for his South Africa Medal with '1879' clasp. Wise gained further advancement to Leading Seaman in April 1888 and joined his old ship the Boadicea in the same month, an appointment that led to him qualifying for his East and West Africa Medal for the Witu operations of 1890, by which year he had been appointed a Petty Officer 1st Class. Awarded his L.S. and G.C. Medal in September 1899, he was finally pensioned in late 1902. Recalled from his civil appointment with the Bexhill Education Authority on outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Wise was demobilised in late 1917, having served for the greater part of the conflict in the Wallaroo, a Victorian Cruiser that was employed as a Guard Ship at Chatham.