Rishworth,+Henry+Holmes


 * Second Lieutenant Harry Holmes Rishworth** 1/6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment.



1893: Born, Keighley in the 2nd quarter of the year. Parents Charles Frederick William and Mary Hannah Rishworth. Father's occupation: Corn Miller. 1901: Census. Age 7 years. Living at Moorfield, Keighley, with parents Charles and Mary Rishworth and sisters Elsie and Jessie. 1901: Started attending day classes at Keighley Trade and Grammar School. Age 7 years. 1906: Left Keighley T & G S in July. Age 13 years. Then attended evening classes in the Textile Department of the Technical School. 1911: Census. Age 17 years. Living at Moorfield, Greenhead Lane, Keighley, with parents Charles and Mary Rishworth and sisters Elsie and Jessie. Occupation: Worsted Spinner Apprentice. 1914: Volunteered for the army as a Private in the 1/6th Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment. Made Lance Corporal at Riby Camp. 1915: On 5th March - antedated to 20th January (from the rank of Corporal) he became Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion West Riding Regiment. Death on 15th September at Eccleshall Bierlow in Sheffield, from a motor-bicycle accident, whilst serving as a Second Lieutenant in the Army at Totley Camp, Derbyshire. Buried at Utley Cemetery, Keighley on Saturday 18th September:




 * Keighley's Gallant Sons record:** Rishworth, H. Lt. s (single) Greenhead Lane WR.

Remembered in the Keighley WW1 Roll of Honour book in Keighley Library. Remembered in the Keighlian Magazine Roll of Honour for Keighley Boys Grammar School. Remembered on Keighley Golf Club WW1 Memorial.

No record of Army service abroad has been found and no medals were awarded.

6th Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment); the undermentioned to be Second Lieutenants. Dated 5th March, 1915: — Private Kenneth Ogston. Lance-Corporal Henry Holmes Rishworth. Private James Sydney Clapham. Private Sydney Taylor. Lance-Corporal David Francis Peacock.
 * London Gazette 4th March 1915 record:**

6th Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment). The appointments of the undermentioned Second Lieutenants are antedated as follows: — Thomas Brayshaw. Dated 25th November, 1914. Barclay G. Buxton. Dated 20th January, 1915. Kenneth Ogston. Dated 20th January, 1915. Henry H. Rishworth. Dated 20th January, 1915. James S. Clapham. Dated 20th January, 1915. Sydney Taylor. Dated 20th 'January, 1915.
 * London Gazette 19th June 1915 record:**

Second Lieutenant Harry H. Rishworth. Harry Rishworth was a pupil from 1901 to July, 1906, and for several sessions afterwards attended the evening classes in the Textile Department of the Technical School. He joined the 1/6th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment as a private shortly after the commencement of the war, and was amongst the first of our local soldiers to receive a commission from the ranks. Lieutenant Rishworth’s death was due to a motor cycle accident whilst he was on duty at his camp near Totley, in Derbyshire. Of a bright and cheerful disposition, he had a large circle of friends, who deeply deplore his untimely death.
 * Keighlian Obituary:**

KEIGHLEY OFFICER'S DEATH FATALLY INJURED IN A MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT Second Lieutenant Harry Rishworth, the only son of Mr C. F. Rishworth, of Moorfield Drive, Keighley, died on Wednesday evening at the military hospital in Sheffield as the result of injuries received in a motoring accident earlier in the day. Lieutenant Rishworth, who was stationed with his regiment, the second 6th Duke of Wellington's at Totley, Derbyshire, for musketry practice was proceeding to Sheffield on his motorcycle when the accident occurred. The mishap is thought to have been due to the unevenness of the road surface of Abbeydale South Road in Derbyshire, just outside the Sheffield boundary along which he was riding. Evidently Lieutenant Rishworth lost his grip of the handlebars to the front wheel bumping into a hole in the road presumably he fell from the saddle seat. The machine appears to have swerved badly, and to have dragged the fallen rider along the road for a distance of around thirty yards owing to his inability to extricate his foot. A taxi-cab driver passing along the road spotted Lieutenant Rishworth lying unconscious on the ground. Regaining consciousness, the officer asked to be taken back to the camp at Totley and the taxi-cab driver conveyed him thither. At the camp he was attended by the medical officer of the battalion, who, in view of his serious condition secured his removal to the military hospital in Sheffield. He was accompanied to the hospital by a brother officer, and succumbed to his injuries a short time after his arrival. His chief injury was a severe fracture of the base of the skull.
 * Keighley News report 18th September 1915:**

The circumstances of the accident were the subject of an inquest at Sheffield yesterday by Mr J. J. Baldwin Young (deputy coroner). Captain Rhodes said he had known Second Lieutenant Rishworth twelve months. He was accustomed to riding a motor-bicycle, and had one of his own. The motor-bicycle he was riding at the time of the accident belonged to Second Lieutenant Maxwell. Witness saw him just before he started off from camp at Totley, where a detachment of the second 6th West Riding Regiment were stationed about 11:30 on Wednesday morning. He appeared in good health then about 1 o'clock he was brought back to camp in a taxi-cab. He was severely injured but was quite conscious. On the order of the medical officer he was taken to the Military Base Hospital at Sheffield, where he died. William Bell, of Devonshire Terrace, #### a taxi-cab driver said he was on Abbeydale Road, just inside the Sheffield city boundary at 12:30 when he saw Second Lieutenant Rishworth approaching on a motor bicycle from the direction of Totley. There was no other traffic about. Suddenly the machine front wheel dipped into a hole in the road. The handlebars were jerked out of his grasp, and he was thrown off the machine. In falling he caught his foot in the rear part of the machine. The engine continued to act, and he was dragged fifty yards. Witnesses went to his assistance, and took him to a house close by. After a doctor had seen Lieutenant Rishworth witness took him to the camp at Totley and later removed him to the Military Base Hospital at Sheffield. Questioned about the hole in the road, the witness said it was on the right hand side of the road, and was a metal trap-door sunk into the highway over the water main. In his opinion it was not a serious defect in the road. Second Lieutenant Rishworth was travelling at a very fast speed, which witness estimated at thirty miles an hour. In answer to a juror, Bell said that personally he would not drive over the hole unless the traffic compelled him to do so. Major Yates, R.A.M.C., attached to the Military Base Hospital, Eccleshall Road, Sheffield, said he received Second-Lieutenant Rishworth when he was brought to the hospital. He was unconscious and died about three-quarters of an hour after admission from a fracture of the base of the skull. His condition was consistent with the history of the accident. The Deputy-Coroner said that was all the evidence that could be offered in regard to the unfortunate accident. The jury would have difficulty in finding a verdict in accordance with the evidence. The foreman of the jury: I do not know whether we might call the attention of the highway authorities to the condition of the road. The Deputy-Coroner: I will do so. The jury returned a verdict that Second Lieutenant Rishworth died from a fracture of the base of the skull, received through accidentally falling off of a motor-bicycle.
 * INQUEST AT SHEFFIELD**

Lieutenant Rishworth was formerly learning the spinning business with Sir Swire Smith, M.P., at Keighley, and at the time of his enlistment was with Messrs Smith, Bulmer & Co., Halifax. Joining the first 6th Duke of Wellington's Regiment as a private a year ago along with a number of other well known Keighley young men, he was made a lance-corporal while in camp at Riby. He received his commission at the beginning of the present year, and when the battalion went abroad last April he was left behind. For some time he was stationed with the second 6th Battalion at Skipton, and for the last three of four months had been in camp with them at Retford. He was an old Keighley Trade School boy. He was a fine young fellow and his death will be regretted by the officers and men of his regiment, and by a large circle of personal friends.