Private 20963 Richard Melling

Family details:
Son of Mrs. M. Green, of 198, Main St., Billinge, Wigan.

Census details:
1901 - Richard 8 is living with his parents William 32, Margaret 29 and siblings James 10, Walter 6, John W 4 and Sarah E R 10 months at 198 Fair View, Billinge Chapel End 1911 - Richard 18 is a Colliery Haulier Below Ground. He is living with his widowed mother Margaret 38 and siblings James 20, Walter 16, John William 14, Sarah Ellen 10 and Henry 9 at 198 Main Street, Billinge, Wigan

Notes:
[url=lmem.php?lmem=39]Remembered On The St. Aidan's C of E Church Memorial[/url]

Richard was born on the 20th of July 1892 the son of William and Margaret Melling of 112 Upholland Road, Billinge, and was baptised on the 18th of September 1892 at St. Aidan`s C.E. Church. The family later moved to 198 Main Street and at the outbreak of war he enlisted at St. Helens to join the 11th Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment, the `St. Helens Pals` Richard was in hospital in Sheffield in April 1917 with blood poisoning in the thumb and later returned to the front. He was accidentally killed in France while returning to camp having been run over by a motor transport vehicle on Monday the 22nd of October 1917. He was 25 years old and single. Richard is buried in the Pond Farm Cemetery, Heuvelland, West Vlaanderen, Belgium, grave D.1. His name is recorded on St. Aidan`s C.E. Church Memorial and on the family grave headstone in St. Aidan`s Churchyard, grave 5/39. Sources:- St. Helens Local History Library, Soldiers killed in the Great War; The Commonwealth War Graves Commission; St. Aidan`s Church Registers; St. Aidan`s Parish Magazine, November 1917; The Wigan Observer, 17th of November 1917. [url=http://sthelens-connect.net/sitefiles/billinge-history.pdf]Information Courtesy of The Billinge History Society[/url] [center][pic2]imgs/WW1_people/MellingR_SLR.jpg[/pic2][/center][caption]The St Helens Reporter - Courtesy Ste M[/caption] [pic]imgs/WW1_headstones/RMelling_20963_SLR.jpg[/pic][caption]The headstone of Private Richard Melling at Pond Farm Cemetery (Photograph courtesy of Frederik Sohier)[/caption] [pic]tpics/20963_Melling.jpg[/pic] [caption]A family Monument from St.Aidens Churchyard, Billinge (Image Courtesy of Jeff Keenan)[/caption]