1206627 Pte. Richard Northwood British Army 6th Service Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment from:Wolverhampton (d.1st Jul 1916) I was invited by my boss to visit France (100th anniversary of WW1) to tour the Western front. He knew of a relative who had served during the Great War, and who had lost his life during the conflict. He asked if I had any relatives who had served at the time, I replied that I was unsure, but had seen a photo of a young man in WW1 battle dress at my Mother's home some years ago.
And so my investigation began. My first question was did my Mom know any information on the young man? All she knew for sure was that his name was Richard Northwood, he was the elder brother of my maternal grandmother and he had lied about his age on joining up. He had told the army he was 18 when in fact he was 16!
As I looked at the photo, under a magnifying glass, I recognised the cap badge to be a Staffordshire knot. This was my starting point, but what division? On line, those who knew the answers wanted to be paid for their services. Not being tight, but still getting back on my feet after being made redundant some 12 months prior, I was reluctant to pay the fees, although they were reasonable. With some perseverance, and a fair amount of luck, I managed to find out that he served in the 6th Battalion of the South Staffs.
He arrived in France, after being based in Wolverhampton, then Luton, Bishops Stortford, in April 1915. He saw action at Hooge and was involved in the attack on Hohenzollern redoubt in October of that year. On 23rd December he was ordered to Egypt where he spent just a few days before being ordered to return to France. On July 1st 1916 the order came to attack Gommecourt in a diversionary attack. Richard was killed in the assault aged just 18.
|