Name
(Richard) Eldred Richard Hubbard
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
The 1911 census reveals the Hubbard family as husband and wife, Eldred and Eleanor, who had been married for fourteen years, and their children: Richard (b c1897), Eleanor (b c1898) and John (b c1907). Only the latter two were born in Pirton, so the family must have moved to Pirton around 1906/07. Richard was born in Hertford. In 1911, at fourteen, he was working as a gardener’s boy, probably with his father who was a domestic gardener.
E. Richard is recorded in the Hertfordshire Express November 20th 1914 as serving on the ship the Gloucester Castle (Transport). From the age of his father - thirty-eight in 1911, it is much more likely to be his son Richard who served.
The Gloucester Castle was commissioned in September 1914 and served as a hospital ship with 410 beds. By April 1915 she was taking part in the Dardanelles campaign, carrying Royal Marines and in 1917, although clearly identified as a hospital ship, was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-32 but did not sink. It is not clear whether Richard was on board this ship at this time, because the Parish Magazines of June and September 1915 records Eldred Rich as enlisting during 1915, before August and serving in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ‘Reliance’. H.M.S. Reliance spent a large part of her war service at Mudros (Gallipoli) and in the Mediterranean, but by January 1916 had been transferred to the Royal Field Artillery as a store support ship.
Obviously, the information from the Parish Magazines is contradictory in respect of when he enlisted and his service history. Another possibility is that they could perhaps refer to two different men or perhaps his father did serve, although that seems unlikely. A Richard Edward Hubbard appears on the School War Memorial. It is possible that they are the same man, or perhaps two men with similar names. Unfortunately parish and census records do not clarify this situation.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
