Private Richard Swan

Private Richard Swan, 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in France on 15th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. He fell in an attack near Mametz where the Battalion captured its objectives but suffered many casualties. 3 Officers and 40 Other Ranks were killed and 7 Officers and 219 Other Ranks were wounded. In addition 74 Other Ranks were reported as missing. Before the War he had worked in the Woodyard in Tweedmouth and had already been wounded the previous January. The photos show British troops on the Somme. The photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to commemorate the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where nearby the the Division had fought its first action of the War on 26th April 1915 at the Battle of St. Julien only days after landing on the Continent.