Richard Scott was baptised a t St Mary’s Church, Moreton, Staffordshire on 12 th September 1886. He was the fifth child born to local bricklayer Richard Scott and his wife Jane Lovatt. His family had lived in Moreton/Bromstead since a t least 1777 . Ric hard having received a ba si c educati on at Moreto n village school f ol lowe d in his fa ther’s footsteps by becoming an apprentice bricklayer . The 191 1 census records that Richard, no w 2 6 years old is a bricklayer and a single m an living with his parents a t Moreto n. In 1913 he m arried Rose W eaver a t Madeley i n Shropshire and returned to live Moreton (Rose later moved to Lon gno r , Buxton). They d o no t seem t o have had children . In Stafford, on the 1 1 th December 1915, Richard enlisted with the Royal Engineers as Sapper 177046 when he was 29 years and 8 months old. F ollowing a medical examinati on (weighing in at 160 lbs.), he was transf erred to Hunts Fortress (work s) Royal Engi neers (3120) where his bricklayin g wa s described as ‘superior’ and became Sapper 521902 with o/c 508 th (Wessex) Reserve Field Co. Royal Engineers. At his second medical (in Lichfield on the 1 st June 1916) he was described as weighing 146 lbs. , being 5 foot 8 ½ inches tall with good physical development and excellent vision. Richard was in training until the 26 th May 1917 and embarked for France with the British Expeditionary Force the following day . Just over two months later he was dead; having been injured twice (on the 25 th June and the 8 th July) and by then with 419 Coy . Royal Engineers. Richard Scott was killed in acti on o n 31 st July 1917. This day saw the beg in ning o f the T hird Battle o f Ypres, better known to history a s Passchen dae le. During the afternoon rain fell o n the battl efield an d over the succeeding days the shell torn ground w as turned i nto a quagmire. The fighting a t Pilkem Ridg e lasted three days and ended o n 2 nd August, British an d French forces lost 2 7,000 casualties dead, wounded and missing. Many o f the dead, including Richard Sc ott have n o k nown grave and are remembered o n the Menin Gate a t Y pres in Belguim .

Richard Scott

Sapper 521902 – 419 th Field Comp any Royal Engineers Ki lled in Ac tion 31 st J ul y 1917 – aged 31 Remem ber ed on the Me ni n G ate at Y p res in Be l gu i m

Y pres (Menin Gate) Mem orial Historical Informatio n Y pres (now Ieper) is a town in the Province of W est Flanders. The Memorial is situated at the east ern side of the town on the road to Menin (Menen) and Court rai (Kortrijk). Each night at 8 pm the traf fic is stopped at the Menin Gate while members of the local Fire Brigade sound the Las t Post in the roadway under t he Me morial's arches. The Meni n Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Y pres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from Langemarck in the nort h to the nort hern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the sout h, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war . The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Y pres in October and November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force suc ceeded in s ecuring the town bef ore the onset of winter , pushing the German forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge. The Second Battle of Y pres began in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas into the Allied lines north of Y pres. This was the first time gas had been used by either side and the violence of the attack forced an Allied withdrawal and a shortening of the line of defence. The site of the M enin Gate w as chosen bec ause of the hundr eds of thous ands of men who passed thro ugh it on their way to the battlefiel ds. It commemorates casualties from the forces of Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and United Kingdom who died in th e Salient. In the case of United Kingdom casualties, only those prior 16 August 1917 (with some exceptions). United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who di ed after t hat date are named on the memorial at T yne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point rea ched by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war . New Zealand casualties that died prior to 16 August 1917 are commemorated on memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery .