Richard Edward Chardin

Richard Edward Chardin was born in Clapton, Hackney, in 1895 to Frederic William and Jane Chardin. Frederic was a merchant’s clerk in foreign commerce. In 1911, Richard lived with his family at 11 Empress Avenue, Woodford Green. Richard worked as a mercantile enquiry office clerk.

Richard attended Wilsons College in Stoke Newington and Bancroft’s School, Woodford Green and worshipped at Derby Road Methodist Church, South Woodford. He resigned from the Mercantile Office to become a student at the Royal Institute of British Architects, being articled to Gordon & Gunton (Architects) of Blomfield Street, London. He left his articles and joined up soon after the war broke out.

Richard enlisted in the army and served in ‘D’ company, 12th Battalion, London Regiment (The Rangers). Early in March 1915, was drafted with others to reinforce the Battalion in France, where he was part of the desperate fighting around the Hill 60 area and Ypres. Richard was in a dugout behind the trenches when he was wounded by shell shrapnel on either 9th or 10th May 1915. He died on 11th May 1915 in a casualty clearing station at Hazebrouck. Richard was buried in Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery. His older brother joined the Navy and survived the war but died in 1932, whilst his younger brother died in 1923.

In 1923 his brother Geoffrey Walter Chardin would be killed through accidental potassium cyanide poisoning while working for the Ashanti Goldfield Corporation at Obuasi in the Gold Coast (Ghana). He was attempting to rescue African employees, but was himself overcome by the fumes. He was posthumously awarded the Edward Medal for Bravery in Mine Rescue (Bronze, 2nd Class). During the Summer of 1914 the family had taken a holiday at Southwold in Suffolk. One day Geoffrey spotted that a boy who could not swim was in the water and in danger of drowning. Going into the sea, he brought the boy safely to shore, for which rescue he awarded a Royal Humane Society Commendation. 

Research by Adrian Lee and Redbridge Museum

Sources:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Ancestry.com

Woodford Times