Reginald Holman Richards

RANK: Trooper

SERVICE NUMBER: 729

UNITS SERVED: 9th Australian Light Horse

ENLISTMENT DATE: 1st December 1914

AGE AT ENLISTMENT: 22 years 7 months

PERSONAL DETAILS: Reginald was 5 foot 8 inches, weighed 151 lbs. and had blue eyes. He also had light brown hair, a fair complexion and was the son of Arthur Henry Theodore Richards and Mary Ann Richards. During his time before World War One, Reginald Holman Richards previously had the occupation of a laborer. He was a native to Broken Hill in New South Wales and his parents lived at Coonalpyn in South Australia. Reginald was not married and also had no children. One of his great, great grandfathers served in the British Army and was present at the Battle of Waterloo.

HIS ROLE AT WAR: Reginald began his time at war as a trooper and a member of the 9th Light Horse. He began fighting in Gallipoli on the 16th of May 1915. He was admitted to hospital on the 4th of August 1915 due to a bomb wound to the right buttock. He was then transferred to three different hospitals before being sent to a hospital in England on the 12th of September 1915. After a four day stay in hospital Private Reginald Holman Richards passed away on the 16th of September due to the bomb wound on the right buttock and a secondary hemorrhage. 

INTERESTING INFORMATION: The 9th Light Horse Regiment has one very unique distinction. It captured a battle standard of a Turkish Regiment and was the only unit to capture such a standard during the First World War. A total of 4000 Officers and men passed through the regiment during the war. Of the original 500 who embarked, only 41 survived.

AGE AT DEATH: 22 years 7 months

MEMORIAL DETAILS: Aust. 14. Wandsworth (Earlsfield) Cemetery