Hartland Wheare Richards

photos courtesy of the Richards family
Personal Information
Date of Birth	? Jan 1895
Place of Birth	Gilberton, South Australia
Death	28 Feb 1988, aged 93.
Place of Death	Trigg, Western Australia
Age at Enlistment	21 years, 1 month
Description	5'2" (1.57m) tall; weight 120 lbs (54.4 kg); fair complexion, grey eyes, brown hair.
Occupation	labourer
Religion	Baptist
Address	Armadale, Western Australia
Next of Kin	Mother Mrs Edith Mary Richards
Military Information
Reg Number	6324
Date of Enlistment	1 Mar 1916
Rank	Private
Unit/Formation	16th Battalion, 20th Reinforcement, D Company / 4th Brigade, 4th Division
Date of Embarkation	13 Oct 1916 - 2 Dec 1916
Ship Embarked On	HMAT A23 Suffolk
Date of Return	3 Mar 1919 - 21 Apr 1919
Ship Returned On	HMAT A14 Euripides
Fate	Missing in Action 11 Apr 1917, later Prisoner of War 1st Bullecourt Returned to Australia
Monument	Armadale (Armadale panel) Armadale Congregational Church Honour Board
Medals	British War Medal Victory medal

Pre War

Family resident in Armadale - father the headmaster of Armadale school.

War Service

After early training at Blackboy Hill he was assigned to the 20th Reinforcement draft for the 16th Battalion.

Arriving in England on 2 Dec 1916 he spent another 6 months there in training units before journeying to France on the HMT Princess Victoria from Folkestone on 16 Jan 1917.

Five days later he was taken on strength of the 16th Battalion, which at that time was in Mametz Camp on fatigue duties, fixing up the camp to better handle the wet weather. Several days later they move to Townsville Camp and do the same there. Mametz was approx 5 km east of Albert and a similar distance south of Poziéres.

Hartland remained with the 16th until captured during the 1st Bullecourt battle when D Company was in the centre of the attack by the battalion towards Reincourt commencing at 4.45am on 11 Apr 1917. While they captured their first and second objectives, they were badly let down by the tanks and artillery meant to support them, and after hours of furious fighting, many had to surrender when they ran out of ammunition soon after 11.30am.

A small number escaped back to their start point. The unit's War Diary, instead of listing the casualties, instead listed those who came back such was the loss of personnel. It was nearly two months before the battalion had sufficient strength to serve in the front line again.

Actual point of capture was near Riencourt, well behind the German lines. Interred in Limburg POW camp, before being sent to Prussia to work on farms, and repatriated to England on 25 Dec 1918.

Following repatriation Hartland was given a month's leave in England before reporting back to London HQ, and then on to No1 Command Depot Sutton Veny to prepare for the journey home. (See "A Guest of the Kaiser" held in the Birtwistle Local Studies Library, Armadale for more details of his time as a POW.

" Enlisted 27th March,1916, 20th Reinforcements of the 16th Battalion; sailed 10th October, 1916."

Hartland wass mentioned in a postcard written by S.T. (Syd) Burnett after their capture.

Extract from Hartland's POW postcard 31 May 1917

"Camp Limburg - Prisoner along with Claude Marsh 6553. Send bully or biscuits, if you cannot do anything, hand this card to Sgt George Martin." Written across this card:- Prisoners are not allowed to write to friends in the active Army; but to parents and relatives only. Card was addressed to: Pte John Angelo 16th AIF 26 July 1917. C2 casualties France.

National Archives records contain several letters from him while a POW. Repatriated to England via Ripon where he arrives 25 Dec 1916. Discharged 5th Military District 29 May 1919.

In a statement on 22 Jun 1917 by an escaped POW Pte G Stewart 6214, his status as a prisoner was confirmed, and that he was known in the unit as "Ritchie".

In letter home to his father dated 27th May 1917, he speaks of working in a village close to the firing line. They were all thinner, and looking forward to Red Cross food parcels. A particular request was for soap as he had not had a decent wash since capture and that Claude Marsh was looking pretty miserable.

It would appear that the group captured together have remained together.

301st casualty List mentions J.W. Richards of Armadale as Missing.

Post War

"The Listening Post" Jun 1922 edition mentions his performance at an Armadale RSL Glee Party.

Electoral Roll entries: 1925 "Clovelly", Roleystone - a farmer; 1931 a store assistant at 88 Salisbury street, Maylands; 1936 a tram employee at 71 Roseberry street, Bayswater; 1943 at 67 Roseberry street, Bayswater; 1980 he has retired to 26a Kathleen street, Trigg where he died in 1988 aged 93, a year after his wife Violet (Hawes).