Name
Ralph Joseph Sansom
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/01/1919
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
20249
Norfolk Regiment
3rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Redbourn Town Memorial, Not on the St Albans memorials(*1)
Pre War
Born in 1895 in St Albans, Herts. Youngest son of Thomas and Edith Sansom. lived in Ver House, 23 High Street, Redbourn, Herts. He was a watercress labourer and was unmarried.
Wartime Service
He enlisted as 5723 Private Bedfordshire Regiment on 18 Apr 1915, embarked the Megantic from Devonport on 18 Jan 1916 and arrived in Alexandria on 28 Jan 1916 and joined the 1st/4th Norfolk Regiment on 4 Feb 1916.
He served throughout the advance through Sinai, Palestine and Syria.
He then developed tuberculosis and was admitted to hospital in Cairo on 31 Mar 1916 and was repatriated back to England on 21 Apr 1916 on the Hospital Ship Valvidia. He was discharged from the army on 29 May 1916 as “no longer physically fit for war service”. He died in Ware, Herts.
Additional Information
He was entitled to the General Service and Victory Medals. Ver House, 23 High Street, Redbourn. Brother of Sergeant John Thomas Bob (Jack) Sansom who died of wounds in France on 24 Sep 1917 and who is also commemorated on this memorial. Not in the CWGC Database. *1 Records found have recorded his birthplace as St Albans. This may be the case, however St Albans was the main postal location given for nearby villages and hamlets, so it may be that this information is misleading. If more accurate information found this will be updated.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Gareth Hughes
