254814 Pte. Richard Louis Bertram "Riccardo" Moore British Army 50th Division Workshops REME from:Stourbridge My grandfather, Richard Moore, was the Birmingham Regimental poet, Ricardo, who wrote The Warblings of a Windy Warrior.
As my siblings and I never met him, the information I have about him is somewhat vague.
I do know that he was born in 1894 in Stourbridge and attended King Edwards School and also Stourbridge Grammar School. After leaving school, he was an articled architect for 4 years, during which time he also joined the Special Reserves of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. I understand that he was originally intended to join the Royal Navy but due to a snake bite he missed the deadline. My grandfather was a keen swimmer and played water polo for Stourbridge and was due to go and live with relatives in Australia when he had his front teeth knocked out in a polo match, as a result of which he had to give up his army reserve commitment in 1913.
He re-joined the Royal Warwickshires in August 1914 and it is my understanding that after surveying and mapping a mined area in Arras that was under fire, he was recommended for a commission and on 24th of January 1917 was gazetted as a Lieutenant to the Somerset Light Infantry. I believe that during WW1 he was wounded 3 times and gassed 3 times and was invalided home in 1918 but was later recalled to serve in Murmansk and Archangei as draft conducting officer and then onto India and the Malay States.
Whilst on indefinite sick leave because of his head wounds, he returned to Stourbridge and between 1920 and 1922 worked as a district reporter for the County Express in order to supplement his leave pay. My grandfather then returned to France with the architectural department of the Imperial War Graves Commission. In 1928 he was granted life retired pay and again returned to Stourbridge where he set up in practice as an architect and surveyor, whilst continuing to do freelance work for local newspapers, writing news articles and short stories about local places and things.
In 1938, I understand that my grandfather relinquished his commission to join the Territorial Army with the 8th Army Field Workshop as a corporal and once again returned to France with his unit in the 50th Division, when again he was wounded in the head and evacuated from Dieppe just before Dunkirk and after recovering was discharged to serve in R.A.F factories as an armourer examiner-mechanic.
Apart from being a soldier, architect and journalist, my grandfather was a linguist and he also continued to write many stories and books, some of which were serialised in Canada
My grandfather died in February 1971, with his requiem taking place at the Catholic Church in Stourbridge and was buried at Norton Road Cemetery in Stourbridge.
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