Family :

Education & Career :

See Obituary: https://secure.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/RollOfHonour/People/Details/24368

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

Natural causes is attributed those deaths due to causes that were not directly associated with the war. Included in this are wartime deaths resulting from, for example, theSpanish Influenza pandemic and its associated pneumonia problems and other attributions such as age and exhaustion. It also groups those who through Post Traumatic Stress committed suicide as a result of their experiences.

Detail :

Mansfield Reporter - 15 November 1918 - Capt. P. B. Richardson - SHEFFIELD SOLICITOR'S DEATH IN FRANCE - "Many professional colleagues and political co-workers in Sheffield will learn with regret that Captain. P.B. Richardson has died in France (says the "Sheffield Daily Telegraph"). News came to Sheffield a few days ago that Captain Richardson had been removed to the military hospital at Abbeville, and was reported to be in a serious condition. A l[a]ter message stated his condition was very dangerous. Mrs. Richardson proceeded to London in the hope of reaching Abbeville, and on Friday his partner, Mr. I. Mitchell, received the sad news that Captain Richardson had passed away. The late Captain Percival Blythe Richardson, who was 44 years of age, was the son of the late Mr. Wm. Richardson, retired ironfounder of "Beech Hill," Mansfield, who died in May last. Captain Richardson married Miss Snelus, of Whitehaven, Westmoreland, who now resides at Ennerdale, Filey. He is survived by Mrs. Richardson and one son, Master Leslie Richardson, aged about 13 years. He was articled to a well-known Mansfield solicitor, Mr. C.F. Elliot Smith and was admitted a solicitor twenty years ago when he commenced to practice in this city. In 1912 he was joined in partnership by Mr. Irwin Mitchenn [sic]. When war broke out Mr. Richardson volunteered as a musketry officer, and was given a commission in the York and Lancaster Regiment, being promoted full lieutenant about three weeks later. Acting as senior officer in musketry, he trained the Battalion whilst in camp in the south of England, and brough them out top of the brigade in shooting. He was then detailed to instruct the machine-gunners, and after a short course at the Erith works of Messrs. Vickers. Ltd., he trained a large number of men in this work. He made a close study of the subject, and at his own expense published a text0book, which has been very widely used. At Hythe School, where he took a course in machine-guns, he gained a distinction. When the Machine Gun Corp was formed in November, 1913, Captain Richardson joined it, at the invitation of the War Office. Although he was very desirous of serving overseas, he was placed on the Headquarters Staff for organisation purposes. For his good work here he was personally complimented by Brigadier-General Hill, late General Officer Commanding of the Machine Gun Corps, and by Colonel Clark and Colonel Chateris. He also designed the record system for the Machine Gun Corps, which was approved by the War Office, and is still in use. On the formation of the Tank Corps, in 1916, he went to a home base where, as officer commanding a unit, he did some good organisation work in connection with the tanks. Returning to the Machine Gun Corps, he went to France in the spring of this year, where he continued to serve until he was attacked by illness. Always interested in musketry, the late officer was a prize marksman in pre-war days, and was instrumental in staffing several rifle clubs in the district. He had also a wide knowledge of Maxim and quick firing guns. A Conservative in politics, Mr. Richardson contested in the Burgreave Ward, in the municipal election of 1911, when he was defeated by Mr. A. Neal. He acted as election agent for Mr. Douglas Vickers, when that gentleman contested the Brightside Parliamentary Division at the two elections of 1910. Captain Richardson took a keen interest in the Brightside and Burgreave Conservative Association, and he also helped to form several other political clubs. In addition to his other activities he was a director of the Atheneum Club, and chairman of the directors of the Apex Steel Company, Ltd."

Sheffield Daily Telegraph - 17 January 1919 - "PATRIOTIC SOLICITORS - Judge and Sheffield Profession's Losses. - Before commending the business of the Sheffield County Court yesterday, Judge Denman Benson said death had removed from their midst two very honoured and distinguished members of their society. Mr. P.B. Richardson and Mr. A. B. Chambers, and he thought it would not be right to allow that opportunity to pass without saying a few words to the memory of two men who were respected by them and who had practised before them. Mr Percival Blythe Richardson was a keen fighter. When the war broke out, being of serviceable age, he at once joined His Majesty's forces, to do "his bit" for his country. He became a very distinguished machine-gun instructor, and eventually, having wished for it all the time, he went abroad. Unfortunately in the trenches, he became affected with trench fever, from the effects of which he ultimately died."

DRIFFIELD TIMES 20th August 1927 - "The annual lifeboat procession took place on Saturday. It was headed by the town band, and in the procession was the lifeboat and its crew, hauled by a team of horses. The procession ended in the launch of the boat. The following faculty has been granted to the Rev. Canon Arthur Neville Cooper, M.A., vicar and chrurchwardens of the parish of St John, Filey, to insert a stained glass window at the east end of the south aisle of the church and bearing the following inscription : "A.M.D.G. [ad majorem dei gloriam] and in loving memory of Percival Blythe Richardson, Captain M.G.C., and all his brave comrades who at the call of King and country left all that was dear to them, endured hardships, faced dandger and finally, passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom.""

Masonic :

Percival was initiated into the John Hervey Lodge No. 1260, but the record shows that he was excluded from this lodge under Rule 175 with no date annotated, only that it appears in the 1920 column. There is a crossed out note against his record that he was "Killed in Action Aug 1916" and also that he was joined to Lodge No. 3806. The record of Maguncor Lodge No. 3806 shows Percival Blythe Richardson as a petitioner and founder of this Lodge, joining when warranted 5th September 1917 and at its consecration on the 20th September 1917. His entry shows that he "Died on W.S [war service] Novr 1918."

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