Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE WILLIAM RICHES 12/481. Born in Norwich, 1883, William was one of seven children to James and Emma Riches of 32 Ashmanhaugh, Neatishead, Norfolk. A Dock Labourer by trade he enlisted at Hull City Hall on 21st September 1914 joining the 12th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Sportsmen’, 3rd Hull Pals. His army records describe him as 5 foot, 8 inches, tall, 38 inch chest size, 160 lbs weight, blue eyes, brown hair, fair complexion, Church of England religion. He served for 1 year and 250 days in Egypt and France with the Hull Pals. Was wounded in the abdomen on 27th May 1916 and evacuated to 29th Casualty Clearing Station where he died. He is buried in Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery Extension; he was 33 years old.
He is remembered on Hull’s Walker Street Memorial in Hull, and on the English Street and Woodcock Street Roll of Honour (Hull Daily Mail 23 September 1916).
