Saturday, September 15, 2012

Trimmer Richard Longmaid 763081

There was only one result for R W Longmaid in the CWGC database and he was from Liverpool.

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Richard William Longmaid was born in Liverpool on 7th Dec 1894 and christened on 18th Feb 1895. His parents were Richard Henry Augustus and Sarah Anne Longmaid of 15 Emerson Street.


image source: parish records collection ancestry.co.uk


The 1901 census shows that William's father was a seaman (merchant service) and was born in Cornwall. Richard was the second of 4 children with an older sister Sarah E J(aged 7) and younger siblings Louise H (3) and Edith E (1). The family were living at 17 Emerson Street.


The 1911 census shows that the family were living at 31 Penrith St. Richard Senior was still working as a mariner aged 63. Richard Junior (aged 16) was a cabin boy, his sister Sarah (aged 17) was a tailoress.
Richard W Longmaid's service papers show that on 8th Jan 1915 he enlisted with the territorial force and was given the rank of Gunner in the 1st West Lancs Brigade RFA regimental number 1551.
His medical examination shows that Richard Longmaid was 20 years old,
5feet 9 inches tall and had good physical development.
Eyesight in his left eye was poor and in his right eye was fair.
On 31st August 1915 after 236 days of service, he was discharged under King's Regulation 392 para XVI (no longer physically fit for war  service)

After his discharge from the army Richard served with the Merchant Navy. He entered the Merchant Marine Reserve (whereby a number of officers and men of the Merchant Marine agreed to serve with the Royal Navy under the terms of T.124 agreements, which made them subject to Naval discipline while generally retaining their Merchant Marine rates of pay and other conditions.) 
The medal roll below records his medal entitlement (source: national archives)

Tr = trimmer ST = star, V= victory B=British Mr=how the medal was  issued (Mother?) I.C etc = Index casualty number

Richard died aged 21 on 29/2/1916 when his ship the H.M.S. Alcantara was sunk.
The newspaper report below is from the London Times 27/3/1916. Richard is listed under 'specially entered Mercantile crew'






Description
English: HMS Alcantara engages the German raider Grief on 29 February 1916, in the North Sea. Both ships sank.
Date, 17:11:22
SourceThe Times History and Encyclopaedia of the War Vol XXI, London 1920 (p.127) via archive.org
AuthorUnknown artist

click here to see the CWGC entry for Richard William Longmaid

 The information in the CWGC database shows that his sevice number was 763081, confirms that he was the son of Richard and Sarah A Longmaid of 31 Penrith St, Liverpool and shows that his name can be found on Panel 20 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

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