500645 Robert Edward Ryder British Army 12th Btn. Middlesex Regt Robert
Edward Ryder was from Harefield in Middlesex. Robert was born in December 1895 in Harefield and served with
12th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge Own) enlisting in 1914. He won the Victoria Cross for
" most conspicuous bravery" at Theipval on September 25th 1916. Robert was just 20 years old when he found himself
fighting to take Theipval, with all Officers wounded, dead or down. He single handedly charged a German trench with his
lewis gun when, for want of leadership, the attack was flagging. When I discovered that Robert's very young wife
had recently died of "consumption" (more likely of asbestosis because she had been working in a local asbestos factory
near Harefield), it did make me wonder if Robert just "did not give a damn" since his lovely young Bride had
just died so horribly? His VC is now in the Imperial War Museum. The quote with his medals says quite simply:
" I don't know what came over me...normally...I wouldn't hurt a fly".
|