Richard Thomas LIGHTLEY

Richard Thomas Lightley was born in Croydon in 1893, the son of Richard Robson Lightley and Annie Elizabeth German. His mother died as a result of his birth, and his father also died when he was young, leaving Richard to be brought up in Wath-upon-Dearne, Yorkshire, by his uncle and aunt Stephen Mercer Lightley and Betsey Helen White.

Richard worked as a Borough police constable in Doncaster, and with his wife Mary Ellen had two sons, Gerald and Clifford. During the first world war he served as a sergeant in the Royal Engineers, and died in April 1918. He is buried in Hamburg cemetery in Germany.

Sources:

1. Birth certificate for Richard Thomas Lightley.
2. Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.
3. Information from Dennis Lightley.
4. GRO birth indexes.
5. GRO marriage indexes.
6. 1901 census for Wath-upon-Dearne.