Pte 51659 Richard David Williams

• Age: 41
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 7th November 1917
• Commemorated at: Kemmel Chateau Mil Cem
  Panel Ref: O.15

Richard David Williams was born in Liverpool in the spring of 1876, the son of William Williams and his wife Hannah (née Balmer). William and Hannah were both born in Liverpool and married there, in St. George’s Church, Derby Square, in 1861, William’s occupation given as ‘gentleman’. Richard was baptised on the 24^th August 1876 at St Mary's Church, Kirkdale. Richard was named after both his grandfathers and was the youngest of eight children:  Margaret Ann, born in 1862,  Amy Balmer 1864,  Elizabeth Lawler (Lily/Laura) 1866,  William Robert 1868,  Alfred Balmer 1870 (died at age 1),  Florence Ellen 1872,  Hannah Beatrice 1874, and Richard David 1876.                  

Before Richard’s birth, the 1871 Census shows the family living at 37 Tweed street, with five children and a domestic servant.  His father William, 35, is listed as a general merchant’s clerk. William Williams, residence Tweed Street, and occupation bookkeeper, was a member the Masons’ Merchants Lodge, Liverpool, from 1873-75. His father appears to have died soon after Richard’s birth, aged 41, and the family finds themselves in less fortunate circumstances.

By 1881 his widowed mother is running a lodging house at 70 Upper Pitt St.  Margaret, 19,  is a dressmaker, Lily, 17, is a pupil teacher, William is 12, Florence 8, Hannah 6, and Richard is 4.  Florence died in 1888 at the age of 16.

In 1891 Richard, 14, is a pupil at the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys in Wood Green, Tottenham, this was a boarding school for boys aged between 7 and 15, “helping to relieve poverty and advance the education of the children of deceased and distressed Freemasons”.  His mother, 56, is still at 70 Upper Pitt Street, no occupation listed. Margaret Ann, 29, is a dressmaker, Beatrice Hannah, 16, is ‘assisting in housework’.

By 1901 Richard has returned to Liverpool and he and his mother, now 65, are living at 3 Dove Street, Toxteth Park, next to a joiner’s shop and stables on one side and a plumber’s workshop on the other. Richard is 24, single, and employed as an undertaker’s manager. 

His mother, Hannah, died aged 70 in the June quarter of 1903. 

By 1911, Richard, 35, is the head of household at 162 Park Road, Liverpool. He is an undertaker, working at home. Living with him are his married sister Elizabeth Laura Barrett, aged 44, her husband John, a 49 year old carriage painter, and their son Leslie, aged 10.

As his military record has not survived, the details of his service are not known, but we do know that Richard enlisted as Rifleman 5103 joining the 6th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Rifles). He embarked aboard the SS Invicta sailing from Folkestone-Boulogne on 14th July 1916, reaching the 24th Infantry Base Depot on 15th July. He proceeded to 11th Entrenching Battalion on 02nd August and proceeded to 17th Battalion K.L.R. on 05th August and was posted from 05th September 1916 to the 17th Battalion as Private 51659.

Richard saw action in France in 1916, and by the summer of 1917 the battalion was in the dreaded Ypres Salient. The third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele, began on 31st July and continued until November 1917.

The War Diary for November 1917 reports the battalion in the Hollebeke sector.

At 9p.m. on 5th November the battalion relieved the 20th K.L.R. in the front line trenches. On 7th November, holding the front line, 4 Other Ranks were Killed and 3 Wounded. (The other 17th Bn Pals killed that day were Privates 46697 Timothy Charles Hancock, 86440 Albert Edward Nicholls, and 86428 Harry Copp.)

Richard was 41 years of age. 

He now rests at Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery, Flanders.

Kemmel Chateau was north-east of Kemmel village and the cemetery was established on the north side of the chateau grounds in December 1914. It continued to be used by divisions fighting on the southern sectors of the Belgian front until March 1918, when after fierce fighting involving both Commonwealth and French forces, the village and cemetery fell into German hands in late April. The cemetery was retaken later in the year, but in the interval it was badly shelled and the old chateau destroyed. There are now 1,135 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery and 21 from the Second World War (which all date from the Allied withdrawal ahead of the German advance of May 1940). The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

His brother William, (Mr. W. R. Williams), at 101 Smithdown Road, was responsible for the epitaph on his headstone,

“FOR HOME AND HOMELAND”.

His family placed notices in the  Liverpool Echo on 15th November 1917:

WILLIAMS - November 7, Private R. D. WILLIAMS ('Dick'), killed in action, aged 41 years, late of 162 Park Road, the dearly beloved brother of E. L. Barrett.  (In the midst of life we are in death.) 

WILLIAMS - November 7, Private R. D. WILLIAMS ('Dick'), K.L.R., killed in action, aged 41 years, the dearly beloved brother of Mr W. R. Williams, 101 Smithdown Road, Liverpool. (Deeply mourned by the Family.) 

WILLIAMS - November 11(sic), Private R. D. WILLIAMS ('Dick'), K.L.R., killed in action, aged 41 years, late of 162 Park Road, the dearly beloved brother of H. B. Smith, "Redland Villa," Matlock. (In
the midst of life we are in death.) 

They also placed notices in the Liverpool Daily Post on 08th November 1918:

WILLIAMS - In loving remembrance of Private R. D. WILLIAMS ('Dick'), killed in action, November 7, 1917. - Sadly missed by the Family, 162 Park Road. 

WILLIAMS - In loving memory of my very dear friend, R. D. WILLIAMS ('Dick'), killed in France, November 7, 1917.

In victory's hour we'll not forget

Our gallant heroes sleeping;

Their sun of glory ne'er will set;

Safe in an Empires keeping.  F.G.S. 

WILLIAMS - in loving memory of Private R. D. WILLIAMS ('Dick'), killed in action, November 7, 1917. E.D.

A War Gratuity of £7 went to his sister Mrs. Elizabeth Laura Barrett, 162 Park Road, Liverpool, later changed to 18 Alwyn Street. His effects went to his brother William, and married sisters Elizabeth Barrett, Amy O’Sullivan, and Beatrice Smith. 

Sadly, Richard has not been found on any memorial.

Grateful thanks are extended to Kevin Shannon the author of the book The Liverpool Rifles for providing details of Richard's service with the 6th Rifles.  

We currently have no further information on Richard David Williams, if you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.