Part of the Earley family tree
John George “Jack” Richards married my maternal grandmother in 1951. He died in 1965, when I was a teenager. Although I knew that he had been previously married and had a son, my Uncle Frank, I knew little about his early life nor his military service, other than that he was an “Old Contemptible”.
Unknown to me he had kept a diary of his time in the first World War which had passed on to his son and grandson – when I received this from my cousin, it revealed so much about Jack, not only his army service, but also his personality, including his sense of irony, his eye for detail and his care for humanity, and his love of a good meal.
This is what I have been able to find out about him.
Family background and early life
John George Richards (known as “Jack”) was born on 10 January 1888 in Brixton, South London. He was the eldest child of John James Richards (1863–1936), a house decorator, and his wife Julia, née Pratt (1862–1940), who had married at St. Saviour’s Church, Brixton on 4 April 1887.
At the 1891 census, Jack was living with his parents and younger sister Julia (born 17 September 1889) at 9 Chale Road, Brixton.
By the next census in 1901, the family had moved a mile north to 9 Shannon Grove, Brixton, where Jack’s parents would remain until their deaths in 1936 and 1940 respectively. John senior gave his occupation as “Builder (Employer)”. There were now three further children: Florence, born 8 August 1891; Emily, born 1 May 1897; and Charles, born 27 March 1899.
Although Jack spent three years in the army from 1906 to 1909, at the 1911 census he was back at Shannon Grove living with his parents and his four siblings. Aged 23, his occupation was “house painter” like his father (who was now merely a “worker”).
First marriage
On 2 August 1913, Jack (aged 25) married Rose Helen Hamilton Barber, also aged 25, at St Paul’s Church, then in Santley Street, Brixton.
Rose, known as Nelly, was a machinist at the time of the marriage. She was born in Lambeth on 10 May 1888 and baptised at St John the Divine Church, Kennington on 4 July 1888. Her father, Arthur Augustus Barber, a travelling salesman, died in 1891, when she was just two years old, leaving her mother, Emma, a widow at 32 with three young children. In 1911, Rose, a dressmaker machinist was living with her mother and younger brother, Robert, at 7 Love Lane, Stockwell, about ¾ mile north of Jack’s family home at Shannon Grove.
Based on his diary, it would appear that Jack had been employed by the London Fire Brigade by the time that he was called up in August 1914.
Military career
In about April 1906, Jack, aged 18, enlisted in the Army, joining the Royal Horse Artillery as a driver, with service number 42846. He signed on for three years, with a further nine years in the Army Reserve. During his initial three-year spell with the RHA, he spent some time in South Africa.
At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Jack was immediately called up and re-joined the Royal Horse Artillery at Woolwich, before travelling to France on 17 August as a driver on the Ammunition Column of the 7th Brigade Royal Horse Artillery, part of the 1st Cavalry Division.
In Jack’s diary that he kept throughout the war, he records in meticulous detail his activities over the next nearly 5 years.
Within days of reaching northern France, the division were engaged in the Battle of Mons before the “Great Retreat” almost to Paris. The retreat was halted on 5 September at the Marne River at the Battle of the Marne, following which the 7th RHA helped push the enemy back to the Belgian border.
Christmas 1914 was spent behind the lines at Caëstre, where Jack remained until mid-March 1915 before moving in to Belgium, all the time suppling the gunners with ammunition.
In late June, Jack was given a short leave back home in Brixton, where he was able to meet up with family and friends, before returning to northern France. For the rest of 1915, there was little action and in November the 7th Brigade retired to the Channel coast, where they remained until June, when they moved to support the Division in the early stages of the Battle of the Somme.
In August 1916, the brigade briefly returned to the coast, before returning to action in mid-September at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette. In late November, they again returned to the coast, when Jack was given home leave for Christmas 1916. By the time that Jack returned in mid-January, the brigade had returned to the Franco-Belgian border taking a brief part in the Battle of Arras in April 1917. Here Jack witnessed the horrific effect of extreme cold, with men and hoses freezing to death overnight.
In June 1917, Jack was taken ill and spent a few days in a field hospital, before re-joining the brigade who were supporting the fighting around the coal mines at Lens. After another few days respite on the coast in August, the brigade returned to action at the Battle of Cambrai in October/November.
After further leave in February 1918, the brigade were rarely out of action in the last year of the war; in the German Spring Offensive (Operation Michael) the Division was again pushed back. On 21 March, Jack narrowly avoided being killed when a shell exploded a few yards in front of him with a fragment hitting his tin helmet.
In July, Jack was made orderly to the brigade captain, and often went out with him on horseback to examine the front lines before beating a hasty retreat when spotted by the enemy. The Allies gradually regained the advantage, culminating in the Hundred Days Offensive when the Germans were eventually pushed back to their border. By the end of August, Jack was tiring of the amount of movement required in the advance, complaining that “out of 21 days we had 17 night marches and only one full night’s sleep”.
The final section of Jack’s diary records the joy of the Armistice and the march through Belgium and on to Cologne in Germany, following which he was demobilised in April 1919.
His service in the First World War earned Jack the 1914 Star with clasp, the British War Medal and the British Victory Medal, irreverently referred to as “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred”. The 1914 Star was issued to those who came under enemy fire before 22 November 1914, who were known as “Old Contemptibles” after Kaiser Wilhelm allegedly issued an order on 19 August 1914 to “exterminate the treacherous English and walk over General French’s contemptible little army”.
Later life
After he was demobilised, Jack and Nellie settled at 8 Midmoor Road, Balham, about two miles south-west of Brixton. The couple’s only child, Frank George Richards was born at Midmoor Road on 19 May 1920: he was baptised at St Paul’s Church, Brixton (where Jack and Nellie were married) on 17 October 1920.
At the 1921 census, the family were at Midmoor Road: Jack was now employed by the London Fire Brigade to maintain and paint their fire appliances.
In October 1934, Jack was now employed as a postman when he was injured in a collision between his motor cycle and a motor-car in Mitcham. He was taken to hospital with bruising to his back and left ankle. His address was still at Midmoor Road, Balham.
In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Jack and Nellie were still at Midmoor Road, with their son, Frank. On the register of the British population compiled in September 1939 Jack now gave his occupation as “Ambulance Attendant” working for the London County Council Ambulance Service. 19-year old Frank was a sales clerk.
Nellie died in the autumn of 1950 [death registered at Lambeth July 1950 quarter].
On 10 October 1951, Jack re-married, aged 63, to 59-year old Kate Alfreda Branch, whose first marriage had been dissolved in June 1946. On the 1939 Register, Kate gave her occupation as Dress Machinist, although this was later amended to “Ambulance Auxiliary, with London County Council” – it is probable that she and Jack met while working on the ambulances during the war, although their families almost certainly knew each other previously. At the 1921 census, Kate, together with her mother and her daughter, were living at 25 Tunstall Road, Brixton; Shannon Grove, where Jack’s family were living, is a continuation of Tunstall Road and the families lived only a few hundred yards apart.
The couple later lived near Basingstoke, before settling in the Waterside area of Hampshire, initially at Elmfield Lane in Calshot, before moving to a mobile home at Hollybank caravan park in Hythe, later re-siting the caravan in my parents’ garden at West Dene in Mullins Lane, Hythe. Jack died at Hythe Hospital on 14 September 1965, aged 77.