Name
Richard Arthur Hornby
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/04/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment)
21st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
PLOEGSTEERT MEMORIAL
Panel 8.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Sawbridgeworth Town Memorial, Great St Mary’s Church Memorial, Sawbridgeworth
Pre War
Born in 1877 at Camberwell in South London, Richard was a Stockbroker. In the 1911 census he is single and living in Sydenham, South London.
At the outbreak of war, Richard immediately volunteered for service in the Army.
Wartime Service
He was commissioned as an officer on 24 November 1914 with the 15th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. This being promulgated in the London Gazette of 8 December 1914.
In 1915, Richard was transferred to the newly formed 21st Battalion Middlesex Regiment. This Battalion was sent to France in June 1916 and was in action at the Battle of the Ancre in November 1916. This was the final major attack of the Somme offensive.
At the beginning of 1918, the Battalion was involved in the Battle of St. Quentin, 21-23 March, and the First Battle of Bapaume, 24-25 March, and took so many casualties that it had to be withdrawn from the line.
Richard Hornby’s date of death is given as 9 April 1918. This is confusing as his unit was not in action at that time. Furthermore, Richard has no known grave he is named on the Ploegsteert Memorial. He was aged 40.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Douglas Coe
