Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE RICHARD KIRBY 11/1180. Born in 1895, Richard was the eldest of two children and only son of William and Margaret Kirby. Richard had lost both parents by the age of 10 and the 1911 Census finds him lodging at 1 Plimsoll Terrace, Chapman Street, Hull and paying his way as a Saw Mill Labourer still a boy of 15. He enlisted at City Hall joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. He was killed in action on 13th November 1916 laying in wait for the order to form a second wave of attack on what remained of the French village of Serre during the last stuttering attack of the Somme campaign. The 12th and 13th Battalions formed the main attack and the 10th and 11th were in close support. It was a misty morning and visibility poor. The attack was launched at 5.45am and as the British artillery stopped their preliminary bombardment, the usual signal at this stage in the war that the soldiers were clambering out of the trenches and out into the open, all hell opened up. High explosive shells pounded what had been the British front line and was now where the 10th and 11th lay in wait. It was carnage. Richard was simply blown to pieces. One minute he was a man, the next just more bone and guts shoring up the trench walls. He never received any kind of burial for there was nothing left to bury. Richard Kirby is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial; he was 21 years old.
HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON 4TH DECEMBER 1916, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH.* HIS ADDRESS WAS REPORTED AS 1 PLIMSOLL TERRACE, CHAPMAN STREET, HULL. HE WAS REMEMBERED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON 04/12/1916, BY HIS ADOPTED AUNTIE, CLARA HAIRSINE, UNCLE, GRANDMOTHER AND COUSIN.
