John Richardson (1894-1918)
Pelton Fell railway clerk served with 2nd DLI was captured, died of wounds and buried in Cologne
John Richardson, the son of Thomas and Isabella Richardson, was born in Pelton, on 17 May 1898. He had a sister and lived all his life in the village until he enlisted in the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 29 August 1916 and was posted to the Army Reserve, when working as a clerk in the accounts office of the North Eastern Railway.
He was mobilised on 1 November 1916 and posted to the 35th Infantry Brigade. After training he landed in France on 10 January 1917 and was transferred to the 10th DLI but two days later was transferred again, this time to the 14th Battalion. Four months later he was involved in the fighting in the Lens coalfield and was wounded twice. On 13 February 1918 he was transferred to the 2nd DLI and on 21 March during an attack on the Somme by the enemy when his was the only battalion of the regiment on the front line, he was wounded and captured by the enemy. He was sent to the prisoner of war (POW) camp at Munster, but died in the Reserve Hospital on 20 April from sepsis caused by the gunshot wounds. He was buried in the local cemetery but subsequently re-interred in the Cologne Southern Cemetery.
https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/1167681/3/2/
https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/34600/cologne-southern-cemetery/
Civil Parish: Chester le Street
Birth date: 02-Mar-1894
Death date: 20-Apr-1918
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 2 Westley Place, Pelton, Durham (1901 census)
Victoria Terrace, Pelton Fell, Durham (1911 census & British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920)
Education: Chester-le-Street Secondary School
Religion: Church of England
Employment: Accounts Clerk, N.E.R. (1911 census & British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920)
Family: Father: Thomas Richardson
Mother: Isabella Richardso
Sister: Ebie Richardson
Military service:
10th, 14th & 2nd Battalions, Durham Light Infantry
Service no.: 39262
Private
Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal
Memorial(s): Cologne Southern Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Grave Ref.: XVII.A.30
Beamish Wesleyan Chapel, 1914-1919 Roll of Honour
Ropery Lane Cemetery, Chester-le-Street Richardson Family headstone
Bridge End, Chester-le-Street 1914-1918 Monument
Church of St Mary & St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street, 1914-1918 Plaque
Churchyard of St Mary & St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street, 1914-1918 Plaque
Chester-le-Street Secondary School, 1914-1918 Plaque
Market Place, Chester-le-Street, All Wars Memorial
D.L.I. 1914-1918 Book of Remembrance, Durham Cathedral
N.E.R., Newcastle-upon Tyne, Accounts Staff, 1914-1918 Plaque
Holy Trinity Church, Pelton, 1914-1918 Plaque
Wesleyan Methodist Church, Pelton Fell, 1914-1918 Plaque
Gender: Male
Contributed by John Edwards
