| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Robert was born in Beverley the 26 May 1894 and baptised at Beverley Minster the 2 Dec 1894, the son of Henry Richardson and Mary Emma (nee Freebury), who married in Beverley in 1883, Henry was an iron fitter. Robert was brought up on Railway Terrace but by the end of the 1890s the family moved to Hull, living in Raywell Street. They returned to Beverley and were in 1908 living at 1 Wood’s Passage, off Wednesday Market. For a few months in 1909-10 Robert was a member of the Beverley Church Lads’ Brigade and was described as being “very keen” and an excellent bugler. Robert worked as a painter’s assistant. His father died in 1909 and his mother took the family to Canada. Robert’s older brother William Henry, born 1884, a stone mason remained in Hull. Brothers, Harry born 1891 and Harold born 1899, went to Canada. They arrived in Halifax on 15 Apr 1910 from Liverpool on board the SS Tunisian. They lived in Beeton, Simcoe, Ontario. Robert worked as a labourer. Harry became a textile worker; Harold a sailor.
Robert enlisted in the Canadian Army in Aug 1915 and arrived in the UK on 7 May 1916 with the CEF. He served as a private in the 83rd Battalion (Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada), an infantry battalion. He served in France for three years.
On 2 Jul 1917 military authorities had approved Robert’s marriage. In the summer of 1917 he married Roseanna Nye in Hastings, Sussex. Robert returned to Quebec for demobilisation but soon returned to live in the UK with his wife at 10 Pelham Street, Hastings. He worked as a house painter and decorator. He died aged 69 on 18 Apr 1964. Roseanna died in 1961. Robert’s mother and brothers Harry and Harold remained in Canada.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |