According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), 76 Commonwealth officers and men died on this day, 11th December, in 1914. Today, exactly one hundred years later, I am pleased to remember one of those men, 29752 Staff Sergeant Richard Mulliner of the 9th Reserve Battery, Royal Field Artillery.
According to the CWGC, Richard was the son of Richard and Ellen Mulliner and the husband of the late Nellie Mulliner. He died at home at the age of 47 and is buried in Preston (New Hall Lane) Cemetery. He is almost certainly the same 42-year old widower who appears on the 1911 census at 41 Sweetman Street, Wolverhampton working as a farrier at a shoeing forge.
I could find very little information about this man and so assume that he died at home as a result of sickness before he had chance to serve overseas; certainly I could find no service record or medal index card for him, although his age suggests that he may have been a a regular soldier at some time previously.
There are 324 First World War burials in this particular cemetery, a number of these from Fulwood Barracks, the headquarters of the Loyal North Lancashire and East Lancashire Regiments. The photo above is courtesy the CWGC.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
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