Family :

Education & Career :

Shrewsbury School, 100 years - Lieutenant Richard Standeford Pullen, 1st Bn. South Staffordshire Regiment. Haydon’s (now Rigg’s), left in 1900 for Mason College, Birmingham. Captain of Sandwell Park Golf Club. “He gained no distinction at school but was one of those – and there are hundreds of them – who was living unobtrusively among us, only waiting for the opportunity to show their sterling quality” – The Salopian.

University of Birmingham.
Brewer from Wednesbury (1908). Part of a local family firm Hickman and Pullen.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

31 July - 10 November 1917. By the summer of 1917 the British Army was able for the first time to fight on its chosen ground on its terms. Having secured the southern ridges of Ypres at Messines in June, the main attack started on 31st July 1917 accompanied by what seemed like incessant heavy rain, which coupled with the artillery barrages conspired to turn much of the battlefield into a bog. Initial failure prompted changes in the high command and a strategy evolved to take the ring of ridges running across the Ypres salient in a series of 'bite and hold' operations, finally culminating in the capture of the most easterly ridge on which sat the infamous village of Passchendaele. The Official History carries the footnote ?The clerk power to investigate the exact losses was not available? but estimates of British casualties range from the official figure of 244,000 to almost 400,000. Within five months the Germans pushed the British back to the starting line, which was where they had been since May 1915.

Detail :

He was twice mentioned in despatches, and then was killed in action while leading his Company with the greatest gallantry in an attack which presented extreme difficulties in Belgium, 26th October 1917, aged 34. He is buried at Hooge Crater Cemetery, Belgium. Grave XVII. K. 10.

[Birmingham Mail 06 November 1917] - "A POPULAR MIDLAND GOLFER KLLLED.
. . . Lieut.-Colonel A. B Beauman, writing on October 31, states that on October 26 Sec.-Lieut. R. S. Pullen, S. Staffs. R., fell when leading his company in the attack with the greatest gallantry, in spite of most terrible difficulties, and adds :- "He will be a great loss to the battalion, as he was an able and popular officer. He had a lot of experience, and could always be trusted to do his job well. I saw him a few hours before the attack, and he was most cheery and confident." Mr. Pullen was 34 years of age. He received his education at Shrewsbury School and Mason College, and was a partner in the firm of Hickman and Pullen, Wednesbury. He was married in 1911 to Dora, younger daughter of the late Major A. E. Hart, of Handsworth, and leaves a widow and two children. Mr. Pullen joined the Army in September, 1914, being at that time captain of the Sandwell Park Golf Club, and also a member of the Wednesbury Golf Club where he was exceedingly popular. Lieut. Pullen was twice mentioned in despatches."

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley