Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Richard was born in Timaru on 23 September 1891, third of five sons of Richard Daniel (1865-1914) and Ellen Augusta (nee Wells, 1870-1912) Lynch. The family later moved to the Nelson area where Richard was educated at the Nelson Convent and Motueka schools. Richard was employed as a compositor with G. Stone Printing Company Wellington when he enlisted at Trentham on 15 October 1915, and gave his address as 306 Taranaki Street, Wellington. He was described as being aged 24, a Roman Ctaholic, single, 5 foot 7 inches tall, weighing 130lbs, chest measuring 35 inches, of fair complexion, blue eyes, fair hair and his teeth were sufficient. His brother, Arthur Thomas Lynch, a picture dealer and farmer of Takaka, Nelson, was nominated as his next of kin. Posted as a rifleman to the NZ Rifle Brigade, he left Wellington with D Company, 4th Battalion, NZRB, aboard the Mokoia (HMNZT 43) on 5 February 1916, bound for Suez, Egypt. After further training in Egypt, Rfm Lynch left for France from Alexandria on 7 April 1916. A short bout of sickness saw him admitted to No2 NZ Field Ambulance on 29 August and discharged again on 3 September. A few days later on the 12 September, when his unit was in the Flers area on the Somme, he received gunshot wounds to his right thigh, elbow and wrist and his right ulna was fractured. Admission to No11 Stationary Hospital followed on 13 September and then embarkation from Rouen to No1 NZ General Hospital at Brockenhurst, where he was admitted on 15 September. Unfortunately septicaemia had set in and he died on 30 September 1916. Richard was buried by Father J.J. McNemamin, RC priest, on 2 October in the Brockenhurst (St Nicholas) Churchyard, Hampshire, England, in Plot A, Row 3, Grave 11. His name is commemorated on the Nelson Cenotaph, ANZAC Park, and the Motueka War Memorial. In 1921 a plaque and scroll was sent to his brother, Albert Dennis Lynch “Parkstone”, Holmes Street, Ngaio, Wellington, and later his medals, the British War Medal and Victory Medal, were sent to the same address on the condition that they be handed over to his other brother, Arthur Thomas Lynch, if he should apply for said medals. All his brothers had enlisted for service, but Arthur was rejected as medically unfit, while Leo Francis (2/1485 Gunner NZ Field Artillery) served in Gallipoli and was invalided after 5 months in the trenches and 10 months in hospital, Albert Dennis (26421 Sapper NZ Engineers) served in France, and Percy (40225 Private Canterbury Regiment) the youngest, went overseas with the 23rd Reinforcements and served in England.

Sources

NZBDM Historical Records at https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz; New Zealand ANZACs in the Great War 1914-1918 at http://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=152467; Every Man Remebered at http://www.everymanremembered.org/profiles/soldier/362585/; Evening Post 15 October 1915 p8 and 30 September 1922, New Zealand Herald 22 September 1916 p6, and Colonist 11 October 1916 p4 courtesy of Papers Past at http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz; Ancestry.com.au; Clare Church “New Zealand Graves Brockenhurst”, p108

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• Great War Stories - Rifleman Richard William Lynch - Timaru Herald 22 April 2017 (pdf, 76.9 KB updated 15-Sep-2017)

Researched and Written by

Ted Hansen, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.