FRANCIS RICHARDS

A casualty in early May 1915 at Gallipoli was Private Francis Richards. Born and educated in Belfast, 21 year old Frank Richards had worked as a labourer on the Gillanders brothers' property at Waddington in Mid-Canterbury before enlisting on 17 August 1914. He had previously served in the Territorials in the 13th (North Canterbury and Westland) Regiment. He was posted to the 1st Company of the Canterbury Regiment and sailed with the Main Body to Egypt on 16 October 1914. After surviving the initial exchanges at Anzac Cove, he was transferred to take part in the ill-fated Anzac attacks at Cape Helles, on the southern tip of the Gallipoli peninsula. On 9 May 1915, he sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen, and despite being evacuated to a casualty clearing station, he died as a result of this wound. He is buried at the Lancashire Landing Cemetery at Cape Helles.

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