Dick was born on 17th April 1895 the only son of Ellen Haddon, who came originally from Tysoe. On the 30th, May Dick was baptised at St Edmunds and is recorded as living in the Shipston Workhouse.  The 1901 census notes that Ellen was working as a Domestic Servant and both Richard and her were noted as still being two of the 131 residents of Shipston-on-Stour Union Workhouse.  She later went on to marry Mr Hemmings The records showing Richard joining the Infants School are unfortunately missing, but it is known that on the 1st July 1902 he moved up from the Infants School to the Boys School.  Nearly seven years later, at the age of thirteen, he left on the 5th February 1909. The records show that Richard enlisted in Stratford in Essex but it’s not clear if it really was Essex or a clerical error and it was actually Stratford upon Avon.  The 9th (Service) Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps to whom Richard was posted were part of the 14th (Light) Division, one of the first of the New Army divisions to arrive in France. On the same day that Richard arrived   in    France, 16th June   1915, the Battalion were involved in an action   known as the   First Attack of   Bellewaarde when they had first   suffered losses, most of whom had been wounded but some killed. It is assumed that Richard was part of a draft to replace these men.                               On the 30th July 1915 the 9th KRRC were in Reserve when they received orders to support a counter-attack by the 41st Brigade of 14th Division, who were in the front line and had suffered a German liquid fire attack that morning. This was the first time in warfare that liquid fire flamethrowers had been used. At 2pm the Artillery started what has been described as an ‘ineffective’ bombardment lasting 45 minutes and then the counter-attack went in.  Immediately the attackers of the 41st Brigade started to struggle, with no man getting closer than 150 yards to the new German positions, and by 3:30pm the senior officers were reporting that further progress could not be made and that they were taking heavy losses. They pulled together the remaining able men on the edge of Sanctuary Wood, and out of nearly four thousand men only 720 could be found. The 9th KRRC fared a little better when they attacked initially with bombs (hand grenades), and followed it up with a bayonet attack and recovered some of the lost lines. But the cost for them was also high, as they came under rifle and machine gun fire and they lost 17 officers and 330 men killed, wounded or missing. With such heavy losses the battalion took no further part in any fighting until the 25th September 1915, when the Battle of Loos commenced. This was the original ‘Big Push’ and involved six divisions. In addition to the main thrust of the attack, three diversionary attacks were also launched in an attempt to tie up German reserves and stop them being deployed in the area of the main attack.  The 9th KRRC were to attack in a diversionary action called the Second Attack of Bellewaarde, near Ypres.  This action was designed to stop the Germans being able to move troops to support their lines at the point of the main attack at Loos. This was the Battalion’s second visit to Bellewaarde and they suffered far worse this time. On the 16th October 1915 the Evesham Journal reported: A letter has been received by Mrs S Hemmings, New-street, Shipston-on-Stour, announcing the loss of her son, Richard Haddon, who was killed on September 25. The deceased soldier enlisted in Kitchener’s Army at one of the recruiting meetings joining 10th KRR. The letter which is dated September 27, is as follows:- “As your son’s section commander, I feel it is my duty to inform you of his death which occurred on Saturday morning 25th September. He was on sentry duty in our portion of the trench when a shell hit the parapet and Dick was hit by a piece of the shell, killing him instantly. Believe me, you have my deepest sympathy for Dick was a very good soldier and never grumbled at anything he was ordered to do. We buried him on Saturday night and erected a small wooden cross at the head of his grave. I am enclosing the contents of his pockets as I thought you would like them. Again I express my deepest sympathy. – I remain, yours sincerely, W Carrington, a Birmingham chap.”  From this description it appears that Richard was killed before the diversionary attack was launched on the 25th September. Although he was buried, the location of his grave was lost in subsequent battles, and his name is therefore recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium. In Shipston he is remembered on the Town and both of the School Memorials. Sadly Corporal W Carrington was himself killed in June 1916.

Mike Wells