Richard Cripps was born in Hull, Yorkshire, a younger son of John Cripps (b. circa 1851) and Isabella Cripps (1844-1899). His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1882 in the Sculcoates registration district, Yorkshire.
On 2 May 1887 he was admitted into St Paul's Infants School, Wilton Place, Westminster, London, where the school's admissions register shows his family address as 13 Grosvenor Crescent Mews, Westminster and his date of birth as June 1882. He seems to have had a broken education, possibly because his father was a domestic coachman and may have been employed by someone who only lived in London for some months each year. He was withdrawn from his school on 26 July 1897 but was readmitted on 23 April 1888 with his birth date again being recorded as June 1882. He was again withdrawn on 2 August 1888 and readmitted on 13 May 1889 with his date of birth being given as 5 June 1882. He was withdrawn on 26 July 1889 but was readmitted on 31 December 1889 when his date of birth was confusingly shown as 14 June 1882. He finally left this school, aged 7 years and 10 months, on 18 April 1890.
In the 1891 census he is shown as aged 8 years and living in two rooms at 37 Molyneux Street, Marylebone, with his parents and his elder brother John Talbot Cripps (1879-1918). His father was described as a coachman.
His mother died and his father remarried. In late 1900 he enlisted as a Private in the Bedfordshire Regiment, service number 6895, and the 1901 census shows him as aged 18 years and a soldier in the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, living in two rooms at 9 Ball Street, Kensington, with his father and step-mother, Jane Cripps.
In mid 1910 he married Elizabeth Tubb, a widow with one son, Charles William Tubb (1905-1981). Having completed his service in the army and placed on the Army Reserve List, he was appointed as an assistant postman in November 1910 in the London Postal Service at Paddington. The London Gazette dated 3 January 1911 shows him as a postman with effect from 16 December 1910.
The April 1911 census confirms him as an assistant postman living in three rooms at 8 Campden Hill Gardens, Kensington, with his wife and step-son. His daughter, Elizabeth Felicia Viola Cripps (1911-2005), was born on 29 July 1911. He was promoted to the grade of postman in December 1911 and transferred to the Western District Office.
On the outbreak of World War One he was recalled to his regiment and entered France on 6 October 1914. He was killed in action, aged 32 years, on 18 May 1915 and as he has no known grave he is commemorated on Stone 10.D. on the Le Touret Memorial, 39 Rue du Bois, 62136 Richebourg, France.
On 25 May 1916 his widow was sent his army effects totalling £5-18s-0d and she was sent his £5-0s-0d war gratuity on 16 December 1919. He was posthumously awarded the 1914 Star with the '5th Aug - 22nd Nov 1914' clasp, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is shown as 'CRIPPS, R.' on the Western Postal District war memorial at Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website, on the A Street Near You website and on page 86 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1914-1920.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
