BARBER Richard

There is no record of this casualty on Commonwealth War Graves Commission or Soldiers Died in the Great War. Worcestershire monumental inscriptions record a headstone in Malvern Wells Cemetery for a Richard Barber who died in 1917.  I can find no record of his death in the General Register Office indexes.  There is a medal index card for a Richard Barber, Herefordshire Regiment, service no 235986 with the only additional information of his award of the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

Malvern News, 1st December 1917:
Private R. Barber, Herefordshire Regiment (the eldest son of Mrs Barber of 3 Somerset Place, Lower Chase Road) has been killed in action, aged 20.

Malvern News, 8th December 1917:
A few days ago, Mrs Barber, widow of 3 Somerset Place, Lower Chase Road, received official communication stating that her son, Private R. Barber, Hereford Regiment was killed in action on the 6th November 1917.  On Saturday morning, to her great joy she had two letters and a postcard from her son bearing dates subsequent to November 6th. He is alive, but has been bayoneted in the left knee by a Turk.

A photograph of Private R. Barber of Malvern, wounded, can be found in Berrow’s Worcester Journal Supplement, Saturday 8th December 1917, available at Worcestershire Archives.