Captain
DOUGLAS BIRCH RICHARDSON
Royal Engineers and Royal Flying Corps

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, BSAE, P.E., MinstRE
(June 2025)

Figure 1. Captain Douglas Birch Richardson.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

INTRODUCTION

Richardson was a young man who thought about serving his country two and a half years before the start of the Great War of 1914-1918. He participated in the Cadet Corps of the schools that he attended and he obtained a commission in the Royal Engineers Territorial Force in 1911. As fate would have it, he survived the battles in which his R.E. company was involved, only to lose his life when serving in the Royal Flying Corps.

2. FAMILY INFORMATION AND EARLY LIFE

Family Information

Douglas Birch Richardson was born on 22 June 1892 in Oxton, Cheshire. He was the son of Richard Richardson (1854-1895) and Florence Anderson Richardson, née Fox (1863-?). He had two sisters, Gladys (1891-?) and Florence Zoë (1894-1974), and a brother James (1900-?). When Douglas’s father died in 1895 his mother re-married in 1898. She went on to have another son and two more daughters with Alexander Dunlop Anderson, who is listed in the 1901 Census as an East India merchant/ship owner in Birkenhead.[1] The Anderson/Richardson home at this time was located at 19 Ingestre Road in Birkenhead, Cheshire.[2]

Early Life

From 1905 to 1907 young Douglas attended St. Ronan’s School in Hawkhurst, Kent.

Figure 2. St. Ronan’s School, Hawkhurst, Kent.
(Image from the St. Ronan’s School web site)

He did well at games and was “sound rather than brilliant, both in work and games, but everything he did was characterized by sincerity and honesty of purpose.”[3] In 1905 he won prizes in the Juniors Long Jump and Hurdles. The school magazine, “The Ronan,” reported on his cricketing skills saying that he “has plenty of promise for next season; has played very well of late and has a good defence.” In 1906 Douglas won the Senior High Jump (3 feet – 8 inches), the Long Jump (13 feet – 7 inches) and the 100-yard Hurdles (20 seconds).

He was a prefect at the school and was thought of as “a boy with a great sense of humour, with an affectionate and rather over sensitive nature.”[4]

After leaving St. Ronan’s School in 1907, Douglas entered Gresham’s School in Holt, Norfolk.

Figure 3. Gresham’s School, Holt, Norfolk.
(Image courtesy of the Gresham’s School web site)

In 1908 he won prizes for mathematics and was in the school Shooting VIII (Cadet Shooting Team).[5] In addition he passed a musketry course this same year. In 1909 he was in the Cadet Corps shooting team and took part in Norfolk Rifle Association competitions.

Douglas continued to display his competitive shooting skills in 1910 and was awarded Colour for shooting. He represented Gresham’s at the Schools of Empire Shooting Competition and in 1910 he also won the Jodrell Prize for Mathematics.

Richardson left Gresham’s in July 1910 and went to study engineering at the Liverpool Institute for three years.[6]^,^[7]

In 1911 Richardson passed his first M.I.C.E.[8] examination and became a Student Attached to the Institution of Civil Engineers. His engineering studies, his mathematical prowess, his shooting skills and athleticism made him eminently qualified for a commission in the Territorial Force of the Corps of Royal Engineers. On 23 December 1911 he was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Cheshire Field Company, Royal Engineers Territorial Force.[9] The company had its headquarters at 79a Harrowby Road in Birkenhead.[10]

As he was not in the Regular Army, Richardson was able to continue in civilian life as an engineer, attending only periodic drills and camps as required by his commission in the Territorial Force. In 1913 he started work with Binnie and Deacon in London on a water piping project in Corwen, North Wales.[11]

Sir Alexander Richardson Binnie (26 March 1839 – 18 May 1917) was a British civil engineer responsible for several major engineering projects, including several associated with crossings of the River Thames in London. George Deacon was responsible for the design of the Lake Vyrnwy Straining Tower, designed in a Gothic Revival style. In 1890 he established a consultancy in Westminster which designed waterworks for many UK towns. His firm merged with Alexander Binnie & Sons to become Binnie and Deacon.[12]

Figure 4. Sir Alexander Richardson Binnie.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

3. POSTINGS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE

When war broke out in August 1914, 2^nd Lieutenant Richardson was with his company in a summer training camp. The company was mobilized for active service and was assigned to the 3^rd Division, a Regular Army division that was to be one of the first in the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) to go to France under the command of Major-General H.I.W. Hamilton.

Richardson and his company went to France on 10 December 1914[13] and on 22 December the company joined the 3^rd Division. The other engineer units of the 3^rd Division at that time consisted of the 57^th Field Company and the 3^rd Divisional Signal Company, both Regular Army units which had been with the division from the start of the war.

The officers of the Cheshire Field Company at the time of its deployment to France consisted of the following:[14]

· Major Maurice Charles Marquis, R.E., Officer Commanding.[15]

· Captain Andrew Tucker Squarey Mac Iver, R.E., Second-in-Command.[16]

· Captain M.S. Hanmer, R.E.[17]

· Lieutenant John Percival Ward, R.E., Adjutant.[18]

· Lieutenant Archibald Leitch, R.E.[19]

· 2^nd Lieutenant L.A. Halsall, R.E.

· 2^nd Lieutenant B.A. Duncan, R.E.

· 2^nd Lieutenant H.B. Richards, R.E.

· 2^nd Lieutenant E.P. Jones, R.E.

· 2^nd Lieutenant C.A.St.G. Moore, R.E.[20]

Richardson’s company was created as the Cheshire Field Company and was then renamed the 1^st Cheshire Field Company. Under Lord Kitchener’s first plan (K-1) of increasing the strength of the active Army by integrating Territorial Force units with the Regular Army, the company became known as the 1/1^st Cheshire Field Company indicating that it was part of Kitchener’s K-1 force.

The late arrival of Richardson’s company in France caused it to miss most of the 3^rd Division’s early battles with the exception of the attack on Wijtschaete on 14 December 1914. Richardson served with the company in operations during the winter of 1914-15. Three men were lost in action during the spring of 1915 while Richardson was serving with the company.[21]

· Captain Andrew Tucker Squarey MacIver, killed in action on 24 April 1915.

· 491 2^nd Corporal Joseph Guy Cunningham, killed in action on 24 April 1915.

· 441 Sapper A.H. Williams, killed in action on 15 May 1915.

In May 1915 Lieutenant Richardson was invalided home with pleurisy. an inflammation of the lining of his lungs that caused him sharp chest pains. As it was a viral or bacterial infection he required treatment at home and not in any hospital in France. Because he returned home after a short time at the front, some fool, who his family said, “should have known better,” sent Richardson a bunch of white feathers denoting cowardice.[22] This was certainly not the case as he recovered from his illness within six months and on 7 November 1915 he was sent to No. 29 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps for flying instructions.

No. 29 Squadron had been formed at Gosport on 7 November 1915 with personnel taken from 23 Squadron, so Richardson was one of the first officers to join the unit. He was awarded his wings (see Figure 1) on 3 February 1916 and on this date he was officially seconded to the Royal Flying Corps from the Welsh Divisional Engineers and was appointed a Flying Officer.[23]

Flying Officer Richardson was posted back to France in March 1916 with No. 29 Squadron, R.F.C. The squadron was equipped with D.H.2s in April. Performing escort duties for reconnaissance aircraft along the Western Front, the squadron scored its first victory on 29 May 1916.

29 Squadron was equipped with Airco D.H.2 aircraft and Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8. scout aircraft. The D.H.2 biplane was Geoffrey de Havilland's second design for the Aircraft Manufacturing Company. This highly successful pusher had good maneuverability with an excellent rate of climb. Mounting the engine to the rear of the fuselage permitted the use of a fixed, forward-firing machine gun before the advent of the synchronous machine gun. Superior to the Fokker E.III, the D.H.2 helped end the "Fokker Scourge." Well past its prime and almost two years after its introduction, some squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps were still equipped with D.H.2s.[24]

The F.E.8 was an early British "scout" aircraft, designed from the outset as a single-seat fighter. In the absence of a synchronization gear to provide a forward firing machine gun for a tractor scout such as the S.E.2, it was given a pusher layout liked the D.H.2.[25]

Figures 5 and 6. A Airco D.H.2. (left) and an F.E.8 (right)
(Images courtesy of Wikipedia)

On 22 June 1916 Flying Officer Richardson was promoted to Temporary Captain and was appointed a Flight Commander in 29 Squadron.[26] On 29 July 1916 Richardson was killed in the process of taking off from Abeele near Ypres. He was flying and F.E.8, tail number 6380, the second in line for takeoff that day.[27]

There were two squadrons based at Abeele at that time and their mission on that day was to take part in an attack on the Courtrai Station. It was a very busy airfield with No. 29 Squadron providing an escort for No. 6 Squadron, and every available aircraft was in operation. Abeele was not an easy aerodrome to fly from on the best of days. The weather was very hot that day and there was heavy traffic on the field.[28] Although his death was accidental, he was listed as killed in action in Army records.

Temporary Captain Douglas Birch Richardson was buried in the Lijssenthoek Miliary Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium, Plot IX, Row A, Grave 10.[29]

4. MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

Captain Douglas Birch Richardson was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service during the war. His family was presented with the bronze Memorial Plaque to commemorate his death.


Figure 7. The 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. (Image from the author’s collection)	Figure 8. The Memorial Plaque. (Image from the author’s collection)

NOTE: The medals and the plaque shown above are not those of Captain Richardson. They are presented here for illustrative purposes only.

Figure 9. The Medal Index Card of Captain Douglas Birch Richardson.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

Probate of Richardson’s Will took place in Chester on 8 January 1917. The probate calendar for 1917 shows him as a “Captain in the Cheshire Field Company, R.E. attached to the Royal Flying Corps.” His effects were left to Florence Anderson, widow (his sister) in the amount of £654 4s 9d (approximately $56,700 US in 2025 currency).

REFERENCES:

Army List

Monthly Army List, November 1914, p. 832.

Census

1. 1901 Census of England (RG 13/3399).

2. 1911 Census of England and Wales.

Family Tree

Douglas Birch Richardson Family Tree (Ancestry.com – dominic271).

Civil Documents

1. St. Ronan’s School Obituary.

2. Gresham’s School Obituary.

3. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorial.

4. 1917 Probate Calendar, p. 59.

Internet Web Sites

1. St. Ronan’s School.

https://saintronans.co.uk/#gsc.tab=0

2. Gresham’s School.

https://www.greshams.com/

3. UK Civil Engineers List, 1818-1930.

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3787/records/20292

4. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cheshire_Field_Company,_Royal_Engineers_Cigarette_Card.jpg

5. Wikipedia: Alexander Binnie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Binnie

6. The Long, Long Trail: 3^rd Division

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/3rd-division/

7. The Aerodrome.

https://www.theaerodrome.com/aircraft/gbritain/airco_dh2.php

London Gazette

1. The London Gazette, 16 February 1916, pp. 1690 and 1699.

2. Supplement to the London Gazette, 26 July 1916.

Military Documents

Medal Index Card

ENDNOTES:

[1] St. Ronan’s School Obituary.

[2] 1901 Census of England.

[3] St. Ronan’s School Obituary.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Gresham’s still has a student rifle team and a clay target shooting team.

[6] Gresham’s School Obituary.

[7] The only Liverpool Institute extant today is the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts which did not exist in 1910.

[8] Member Institution of Civil Engineers.

[9] Army List, November 1914.

[10] Ibid.

[11] St. Ronan’s School Obituary.

[12] Wikipedia.

[13] Medal Index Card.

[14] Army List, November 1914.

[15] To France with the company on 10 December 1914. Later served with the 22nd (Labour) Battalion, Cheshire Regiment and then with the Labour Corps.

[16] Killed in action on 24 April 1915.

[17] Later, Major.

[18] Later, Lieutenant Colonel, OBE.

[19] Later, Major.

[20] Later, Lieutenant, MBE.

[21] Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

[22] Gresham’s School Obituary.

[23] The London Gazette, 16 February 1916, pp. 1690 and 1699.

[24] Wikipedia.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Supplement to the London Gazette, 26 July 1916.

[27] Gresham’s School Obituary.

[28] Ibid.

[29] Commonwealth War Graves Commission.