The Richman brothers – Tell Them of Us

The re-imagined story …

The late Autumn sunshine glances across the cemetery. Everyone says how unseasonably warm it is this year. The Scouts who stood around the Cross of Sacrifice on Remembrance Day struggled in their uniforms. One little chap fainted. He hit the ground with such a thud. Never seen that happen before. November is usually a bleak month; the weather bitter, the memories more so.

I’ve walked past this grave so many times over the years, but do you know what, I can’t remember what once stood atop the memorial. Perhaps they placed an angel here after Isabel died. I wonder if her father ever got to meet his little daughter. Most probably it would have been a cross though, I think. What happened to it? Did it topple over during a winter storm?

The cemetery volunteers will be around in a little while. I see them most Thursdays. They do a fantastic job keeping the war graves clear. And not only the official ones but the monuments like this one, too. Today the distinctive feature about the dilapidated memorial is the inscription:

In Loving Memory of Private Alfred George Richman 5^th Wilts Rgt Husband of F.E. Richman Died in Mesopotamia Feb 19, 1917 Aged 32.

Private Archibald David Richman Machine Gun Corps Died in France Feb 4^th 1918 Aged 21 sons of D. & S.J. Richman.

I remember the Richman family like it was only yesterday. But can I remember what stood on the top of this monument? Perhaps it will come to me later.

The facts …

When David Richman completed the 1911 census returns he recorded that he and his wife Sarah Jane had been married 28 years. They had five children, all of whom were living. By the time of the next census in 1921 they had lost two sons.

In 1911 Alfred George Richman lived at 18 Plymouth Street. He was 26 years old and worked as a branch manager in a grocery store. He had been married to Frances Edith just under a year. They would go on to have three children, Kenneth and Raymond and little Isabel who was born in 1916 and died in 1917. In 1911 Archibald David was just 14 years old. He lived with his parents and his elder brother and younger sister at 10 St Margarets Road, working as a grocery apprentice alongside his father. Another elder brother Frank was also married. He worked as a railway clerk in the GWR Works and was married to Annie Mary. They lived at 86 Kent Road with their baby daughter Phyllis Irene.

Archibald David Richman is buried in the Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery, one of 877 Commonwealth burials of the First World War (17 of them unidentified).

Alfred George Richman is buried in Amara War Cemetery in modern day Iraq where his name is recorded on Panel No. 39 XXVII E.

Those buried in grave C1575E are Fanny Withey, Sarah Jane Richman’s sister. She died in January 1910 and her burial took place in Radnor Street Cemetery on January 31, 1910. Isabel Annie Richman is buried in the same plot. She was buried on March 14, 1917 the daughter of Alfred George and Frances Edith Richman. She was just 15 months old.