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Arthur Richmond was born on the 16th October 1875 in Ossett, the son of John William Richmond and his wife Ann (nee Fentiman) who married on the 26th June 1864 in York. Arthur’s birth was registered towards the end of the following year, but he wasn’t baptised until the 6th April 1900 (at St Mary’s, Horbury Junction), when he was almost 25 years of age.
Arthur was five when he was recorded on the 1881 census, when the Richmond family lived at Townend, Ossett. It was a full house, with his folks; John William (b. 1843) and Ann (b. 1838), and the rest of their children; Samuel Fentiman (b. Kent 1865), John William jnr (b. Kent 1867), George Robert (b. Kent 1869), Ernest (b. Enfield 1872), Rachel Rebecca (b. Cleckheaton 1874), Mary (b. Ossett 1878) and Walter (b. Ossett 1880) and a daughter Phillis (b. Ossett 1881).
By the time of the 1891 census, the three oldest children had left home and the rest of the family had moved to Church Street where the head of the household, John William, was a gardener and florist. He died later that same year, aged 48.
Left: Private Arthur Richmond in 1916, with his wife, Margaret Hannah, and their children, Rosemary Edythe and Stanley. This picture was taken after Arthur Richmond was injured in France and sent home to have a leg removed. Luckily, the leg began to heal and was saved, but Private Richmond was then sent back to France and got gassed.
Arthur Richmond married widow, Margaret Hannah Furness on the 17th March 1902 at Wakefield Registry Office. By 1911 they had moved to Derbyshire and they had had three children, but only two sons survived: Raymond Arthur who was born at Royd House Lodge, Mirfield in 1903; Stanley born at Stanley Coppice, near Preston in 1908 and Rosemary Edythe who was born at Temperance Garden, Ossett in 1912.
In June 1916 Arthur Richmond, recorded as being 5ft 2″ tall, was called up from the National Reserves (which he had joined in December 1915 at the age of 40 years and two months) and was enlisted in the 12th Labour Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. Before the war Arthur was Head Gardener at Snapethorpe Hall and he lived at the Lodge there with Margaret and the children. On more than one occasion his Army service record refers to him as “E.A.” or “Ernest Arthur” Richmond
On the 29th March 1917 Arthur was admitted to Wharncliffe War Hospital in Sheffield. He had been wounded whilst fighting in France as a part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
He served with the British Expeditionary Force in France from the 22nd August 1916 to the 24th April 1917 when he returned to Blighty. Being no longer physically fit for war service, he was discharged on the 20th December 1917 when he appears to have been living at Brighouse. Arthur was awarded the British and the Victory medals in recognition of his service overseas in a theatre of war.
When Arthur Richmond died in 1975 he was 99 years and 11 months old. He was the last of the children of John William and Ann Richmond.
References:
1. Ossett Through The Ages Facebook Group.
