RICHARDS, Leslie Alexander
| Service Number: | 2231 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 February 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 53rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Wallingat, New South Wales, Australia, 24 March 1888 |
| Home Town: | Clifton, Wollongong, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway employee |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 14 March 1917, aged 28 years |
| Cemetery: |
AIF Burial Ground, Grass Lane, Flers Plot V, Row B, Grave No. 29 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 28 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2231, 53rd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Jul 1916: | Involvement Private, 2231, 53rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Vestalia embarkation_ship_number: A44 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Jul 1916: | Embarked Private, 2231, 53rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Vestalia, Sydney |
Help us honour Leslie Alexander Richards's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Gary Mitchell, Sandgate Cemetery
Memorialised at Sandgate Cemetery.
106 years ago today, on the 14th March 1917, Private Leslie Alexander Richards, 53rd Battalion (Reg No-2231, stretcher bearer), railway employee from the Imperial Hotel, Clifton, South Coast, New South Wales, was Killed in Action by an enemy artillery shell in his dug-out at Le Transloy, France, age 28.
Born at Wallingat, near Bungwahl, New South Wales on the 24th March 1888 as Leslie Andrew Alexander G Paterson, father's name A. G. Pomroy, and mother Margaret Murray Richards nee Paterson (remarried to Percy Gorrey, died 4.8.1968, sleeping here, name not inscribed at gravesite, from 44 McMichael Street, Maryville, N.S.W.); stepson to John Richards, Les enlisted on the 28th February 1916 at Bathurst, N.S.W.
Younger brother John (Jack, born Bungwahl, New South Wales, 15.11.1891, fireman and engine driver from 44 McMichael Street, Maryville, New South Wales and 49 Downie Street, Maryville, N.S.W., enlisted 31.3.1917, 5th Railway Unit, RTA 20.4.1919, 2nd Australian Light Railway Operating Company, medically unfit, laid to rest at Sandgate Cemetery on the 15th September 1971, age 79). GENERAL-37A. 42. No headstone. Wooden cross erected - 29.6.2019. I submitted an application to DVA May 2021 asking for a Commonwealth War Graves Plaque, curbing and marble chip to restore Honour and Dignity to Mr. Richards, and this was accepted August 2021. I will post photos when gravesite complete.
Younger brother James George (Jim, born Newcastle, New South Wales 1890, signalman from South Head Signal Station, Sydney, New South Wales, enlisted 15.9.1915, Australian Corps Signal Company, Reg No-6804, RTA 27.6.1919, died 20.9.1945, Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, N.S.W., service record states Died after Discharge) also served 1st A.I.F.
Leslie is resting at the AIF Burial Ground, Flers, France. Plot V Row B Grave 29.
Mr. Richards’s name has been inscribed on the Hamilton Superior Public School Roll of Honor, St Pauls (Anglican) Church Memorial, Nabiac, Bungwahl World War 1 Roll of Honour, NSW Govt Railways and Tramways Roll of Honour, 1914-1919 and The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall.
Place of Association – Bungwahl, New South Wales, Australia.
I have placed poppies at the Richards and Paterson memorialised gravesite in remembrance of Les’s service and supreme sacrifice for God, King & Country. ANGLICAN 1-32. 47.
Contact with descendants would be greatly appreciated.
For more detail, see “Forever Remembered “
http://www.commemoratingwarheroes.com/cemetery-main-search/
Lest We Forget.
Click images to start slideshow.