2nd Lt John Lauderdale Stewart-Richardson, 2nd Bn, Coldstream Gds

Second Lieutenant John Lauderdale Stewart-Richardson of the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, died on the 17th May 1916. He is buried in the Potijze Burial Ground Cemetery at Ypres.

The Peerage website states:

"Lieutenant John Lauderdale Stewart-Richardson was born on 18 January 1878.1 He was the son of Sir James Thomas Stewart-Richardson of Pitfour, 14th Bt. and Harriett Georgina Alice Cochrane. He married Nora Joyce Rigby daughter of William Rigby on 6 May 1916. He died on 17 May 1916 at age 38, killed in action."

The Peerage states that he gained the rank of Lieutenant, although both Soldiers Died in The Great War and The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his rank as Second Lieutenant.

The Cambridge Museum in New Zealand gives additional information:

"Sergeant 11/360 John Lauderdale Stewart Richardson Son of Sir James and Lady Harriet Stewart Richardson. Born 18 January 1879. Commission Agent. Enlisted 15 August 1914. Wellington Infantry. Killed in Action 17 May 1916." There is also a photo of a very young-looking J L Stewart-Richardson, and a photo of his headstone which is clearly Coldstream Guards, although the Cambridge Museum makes no mention of this.

The London Gazette notes that John Stewart-Richardson was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) on the 6th November 1915 and his service record, which survives at the National Archives, would of course give the full picture.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Peerage
The London Gazette
The Cambridge Museum