Military Monday - Harold Richardson

Sunday 3rd July 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the death of my Great-Great Uncle Harold Richardson.

Born in Nottingham in 1881, Harold was the eldest son of Robert Richardson & his wife Sarah (nee Percival). He had joined the army prior to the war, in 1911 he was serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers and based at the Hillsborough Barracks in Sheffield. At the outbreak of war in 1914 he was an acting sergeant with the Fusiliers, number 8434.

Hillsborough Barracks

Most of the following information was kindly supplied by Mel Siddons following a Trent to Trenches event in Nottingham.

The 12th (Service) Battalion The Northumberland Fusiliers was formed at Newcastle in September 1914 as part Kitchener's Third New Army and joined 62th Brigade, 21st Division. The Division concentrated in the Tring area, training at Halton Park before winter necessitated a move into local billets in Tring, Aylesbury, Leighton Buzzard, High Wycombe and Maidenhead. The artillery was at High Wycombe and Berkhamsted, RE at Chesham, and ASC at Dunstable.

In May 1915 the infantry moved to huts at Halton Park, whilst the artillery moved to Aston Clinton with one brigade staying at Berkhamsted and the RE to Wendover. On the 9th of August they moved to Witley Camp. They proceeded to France during the first week of September and marched across France their first experience of action being in the British assault at Loos on 26th September 1915, suffering heavy casualties, around 3,800, just a few days after arriving in France.

In 1916 they were in action in the Battles of The Somme, including The Battle of Morval in which the Division captured Geudecourt. On the 1st July 1916 the 12th Battalion were fighting in Shelter Wood.

At dawn on the 2nd of July our troops advanced to the storm of Fricourt Wood, the Contalmaison Road, Shelter Wood, and as much of the bootshaped plateau as they could take. As they advanced, the massed machine guns in all the trenches and strongholds opened upon them. They got across the field of this fire into Fricourt Wood to an indescribable day which will never be known about nor imagined. They climbed over fallen trees and were caught in branches, and were shot when caught. It took them all day to clear that jungle; but they did clear it, and by dark they were almost out at the northern end, where Railway Alley lay in front of them on the roll of the hill. Further to the north, on the top of the leg of the boot, our men stormed the Shelter Wood and fought in that 200 yards of copse for four bloody and awful hours, with bomb and bayonet, body to body, till the wood was heaped with corpses, but in our hands.* 

It is most likely that Harold died in the fighting in Shelter Wood, either in action or later, of his wounds. His body has never been recovered and he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.

* 'The Battle of the Somme' by John Masefield

Nottinghamshire Great War Roll of Honour

Nottinghamshire County Council have recently put together a searchable database of World War One memorials.

This is the result for my Great-great Uncle Harold Richardson:

Person Details

Date of death  03 Jul 2016

Age at death  35

Service number  8434

Rank  Sergeant

Military Unit  12th Bn. Northumberland Fusiliers

Remembered on
Hyson Green - St Stephens War Memorial as Harold Richardson Sergeant 12th Bn. Northumberland Fusiliers


I think this may be him:

but I could be wrong - I've tried a few different places, but haven't yet managed to get his cap badge identified with any certainty.

It's great to know where he is commemorated though & I'll be going to have a look in St Stephens next time I'm in Nottingham.

As it's Remembrance Sunday today, I thought I'd post about the Richardson's experience of World War One. Four of the five Richardson brothers, the sons of Robert Richardson, were in the forces during the war.

Harold, the elder brother, born in 1881,was already in the Army by the time of the 1911 Census.  He can be seen serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers & based at Census time at Hillsborough Barracks in Sheffield.  By the outbreak of war, he was an acting sergeant with the Fusiliers, No. 8434.

Harold was killed on the second day of the Somme, the 3rd July 1916.  He has no known grave, but his name is on the Thiepval Memorial.  His medal card shows he was awarded the Victory and British medals and also the 1915 Star for service in France & Flanders in 1915.

Robert Frederick (known as Fred), born in 1884, didn't as far as I can find, join the forces, but put his mechanical skills to good use on the first bombers at Hendon Airfield.

I have done some research on William, the third brother, born in 1885.  I have yet to check these facts, but it appears he joined the Lincolnshire Regiment, Private No. 6359.  He disembarked on the 21st September 1914 and was killed on the 17th October near Lille in Belgium during a bayonet charge. He is mentioned on Le Touret memorial.  His medal card also shows the Victory & British medals as well as the 1914 Star and Clasp, awarded for coming under fire in France & Flanders between the 5th August 1914 and the 22nd November 1914.  William left a wife, Florrie and two small daughters, Florence & Edna.

Ernest, my great-great grandfather, born in 1887, enlisted in the Royal
Engineers No. 311905 and was seconded to the Inland Waterways Division, due to his trade of stonemasonry. I’ve been unable yet to find out much about what he did, but the lack of a medal card suggests that he served in the UK.

The youngest son, Percival, also served with the Royal Engineers, he was a sapper, No. 633466.  He also won the Victory & British medals and the 1915 Star for service in France & Flanders between the 23rd November and the 31st December 1915.  His qualifying date was the 11th September 1915 in Western France.

So this family lost two out of five sons in the war, it’s unimaginable today, so wear your Poppy!

Robert Richardson 1855–1934



Robert Richardson 1855-1934



My great-great grandfather, Robert Richardson was born in 1855 in Staithes, North Yorkshire.  The youngest of four illegitimate children of Hannah Richardson; his father was possibly John Harrison, an ostler, with whom Hannah as lived as a housekeeper between c1846 and 1857.



Staithes 2005



Hannah died on the 10^th February 1857 in Staithes; she had been suffering from tuberculosis for eight years, an illness probably exacerbated by living in a coastal fishing port.  Staithes is a great place for a visit, full of quaint cottages tumbling down a steep hill towards the sea, but at time of Hannah’s death it was much less picturesque. Staithes late 19th C

Robert & his elder brother John were admitted to the workhouse in Guisborough on July 8^th 1858, charged to the parish of Liverton.  In August they were taken out by their father, but unfortunately, are back in the workhouse in October 1858 this time with their elder sister Mary. They are described in the workhouse admissions register as ‘very dirty’.  Mary is removed by her father in the November & both boys are removed the following June, but are readmitted in July.

In the 1861 Census returns, Robert and John, aged nine and five respectively,  are still workhouse inmates and are now described as orphans.  Mary is living with her grandfather, John Richardson, in Liverton.  Unfortunately, the workhouse records for 1859 to 1866 are missing, so it’s impossible to discover what happened to them during these years, but by 1871 Robert is apprenticed to Thomas Armstrong, a joiner on Westgate in Guisborough.



Sarah Percival 1857-1897



Robert Richardson married Sarah Farnsworth (nee Percival) the widow of Frederick Farnsworth, in Harpurhay, Manchester in May 1880.   

The family story is that Robert worked his way down the country, finally settling in Nottingham, and by 1881 he and Sarah were living in Radford, Nottingham with their newborn son, Harold.  Also staying with them are John Richardson’s wife, Dorothy, and their two daughters, Mary and Ethel.

Robert and Sarah were still in Radford in the 1891 Census with their five sons; Harold, Robert F, William, Ernest and Percival.   Sadly, Sarah died in August 1897 also of tuberculosis.  Robert remarried the following year, to Emily Bell, described by my grandfather (Pop) as, “a simple soul.”  They had a son, Edward, known as Ted in 1906.

Three of Robert’s six sons Harold, Robert F and Percival followed him into the joinery trade.  William became a bricklayer and Ernest a stonemason.  Robert had his own joinery business throughout his years in Nottingham; he had business premises in Hyson Green and traded as “Richardson & Son” between 1912 and 1922.

The son he was in business with was possibly either Robert F or Percival.  His eldest son Harold was serving in the Northumberland Fusiliers by 1911.

I am still researching, but I believe Harold and William were both killed in action during World War One; Harold at the Somme on 3rd July 1917, and William at Herlies on 17th October 1914.

 Robert Richardson died aged 79 in 1934. 

I think he did good for a “workhouse kid.”  Despite his shaky start he was literate, had a trade and ran his own business; looking very smart and well-to-do, if the photo is anything to go by.   I wish I had asked my Pop about Robert, I would love to know more about him; was he strict, did he have an accent, did he talk about his childhood, his siblings, his apprenticeship,  etc etc.  So ASK your relatives while you still can!