Name
Richard Sturdy
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/11/1914
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
3092
16th (The Queen's) Lancers
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 5.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
Richard Sturdy was born in 1889 in Seal near Sevenoaks, Kent, the only son of Richard and Rosa/Rose Sturdy, but one of five children. On the 1891 Census the family were living at Church Terrace, Seal, Kent, where his father was working as a Groom.
His father died in 1896 and on the 1901 Census Richard was living with his widowed mother and siblings at 3 Church Row, Seal, Kent, with his mother working as a Charwoman (domestic). She mother remarried in 1905 to Joseph Ruby and they moved to 19 Puller Road, Boxmoor in 1907 and Richard was apprenticed to train as a butcher. His mother had two more children with her new husband, Joseph in 1906 and John in 1908.
He enlisted with the 16th Battalion (the Queen's) Lancers in Devizes, Wiltshire on 7 November 1910, soon after his 21st birthday, and on the 1911 Census Richard was boarding at 18 Queen Street, Colchester and listed as a regular soldier. The rest of his family were living at 11 Fishery Cottages, Fishery Road, Boxmoor in 1911 and only occupied two rooms in the small cottage, sharing the accommodation with another family.
His mother and stepfather later lived at Pathacres, Wendover, Bucks.
Wartime Service
He was already a serving solder at the outbreak of war and saw action from August 1914 arriving in France on 17 August. The 16th (The Queen's) Lancers took part in the Battle of Mons, Battle of Le Cateau and the First Battle of the Aisne.
He was killed in action on 5 November 1914, aged 25, during the First Battle of Ypres. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial,
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £5 and his pay owing was divided between his mother and sisters Rosa, Nellie, Lyly/Lillie and Alice. N.B. pension cards exist, but the amount paid to his mother is not shown.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com. hemelatwar.org., dacorumheritage.org.uk
