Rawsthorne Ralph Pte 4462340
Personnel Entry
Name Rawsthorne Ralph
Army number 4462340
Rank Pte
Decorations
Date of birth 30/5/1914, Bickerstaffe, Near Ormskirk, West Lancashire. Mother's maiden surhame Appleton. Birth registered Q3 1914 at Ormskirk.
Age 60 at the time of his death.
Unit Enlisted in The Durham Light Infantry (Summer 1940). Posted 11th Battalion DLI. Served Iceland. Served Normandy. Transferred to the Dorsetshire Regiment 28/8/44 on the disbandment of the 11th Battalion. Relegated to the Class Z Army Reserve 30/4/1946.
Company/Battery Not yet ascertained.
Platoon or other sub-unit Not yet ascertained.
Task or role Driver.
Joined Brigade Exact date not known but probably Summer 1940.
Promotions
Wounded Not as far as is known.
Prisoner of War Not so far as is known.
Died/Killed in action Died 13/8/1974, aged 60. Probate granted at Liverpool Registry 30/10/1974. Buried in Holy Trinity churchyard, Bickerstaffe.
Home address Father - Ralph Rawsthorne (1872 - 1945) - retired coal miner. Mother - Esther Ellen Appleton (1875 - 1970). In 1939 General Register (NZVB 457/4) he was single, living with his family at Senacre Lane, Bickerstaffe, and working as a Bread Salesman (hence the ability to drive?). Married Sarah Hoppers in July 1954 at Ormskirk.
Source table 11DLI
Thanks are due to Ralph Rawsthorne jnr for much of the information on the Page and for the photographs. These are set out below and are, in many respects an excellent example of the sort of family material and personal records which are held by many thousands of families in the UK, and, as such, are vital clues to the service of the soldier concerned.
