LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWI
Captain Richard Fenwick Finké
2 Bn Royal Sussex Regiment
Town Memorial P3.R1.C2.
Taken, Not Given
CaptainRichard F Finké
2nd Royal Sussex
Richebourg L'Avoue
May 9 1915
The Parish magazine issue of June 1915 (1) announced the death of Richard Finké “who died whilst leading his company of the Second Battalion, Royal Sussex." The article said that he was the second son of Mrs Finké of Highland House, Leatherhead. His names were given as Richard Edward.
However the volume Officers Who Died In The Great War (Royal Sussex) (2) states the Christian names to have been Richard Fenwick, but gives no battalion attribution.
Mrs. Finké is mentioned in some papers of the Reverend Thomas Frederick Hobson, late Vicar of Leatherhead, as a member of the of a body of ladies who gave a War Shrine to the town. (3)
The War Diary of the 2nd. Bn. Royal Sussex, tells what happened on the fated day. (4)
On 8th May the Battalion move to
Richebourg L'Avoue, with five sappers attached who were mining experts,
and relieved the Black Watch.
On 9th May, at 1.30 a.m. there was an issue of tea and rum.
The preliminary bombardment commenced at 5 a.m. and the Royal Sussex attacked on a frontage of 400 yards. The bombardment intensified at 5.30 a.m.
Battalion attacked in line from the parapet onwards.
The first wave were 'C' and 'D' Coys, with 'A' and and 'B' following.
Things went wrong, the 2nd. Bn. got mixed up with the 5th. Bn. Royal Sussex. They only got 150 yards, that is half way to the “German breastworks". Some got back to their own lines in daylight, others only after dark. However, the regulars brought back their machine guns.
The War Diary stated that the casualties were due to shrapnel and high explosive. They were heavy and were as follows:
Officers: Killed 2 Wounded 9 Missing 3
ORs: Killed 101 Wounded 329 Missing 118
Totals: Killed 103; Wounded 338; Missing 211
Total 652
On 9th May, at 1.30 a.m. there was an issue of tea and rum.
The preliminary bombardment commenced at 5 a.m. and the Royal Sussex attacked on a frontage of 400 yards. The bombardment intensified at 5.30 a.m.
Battalion attacked in line from the parapet onwards.
The first wave were 'C' and 'D' Coys, with 'A' and and 'B' following.
Things went wrong, the 2nd. Bn. got mixed up with the 5th. Bn. Royal Sussex. They only got 150 yards, that is half way to the “German breastworks". Some got back to their own lines in daylight, others only after dark. However, the regulars brought back their machine guns.
The War Diary stated that the casualties were due to shrapnel and high explosive. They were heavy and were as follows:
Officers: Killed 2 Wounded 9 Missing 3
ORs: Killed 101 Wounded 329 Missing 118
Totals: Killed 103; Wounded 338; Missing 211
Total 652
2/3 of a full strength Battalion were
casualties and Captain Finké was listed as missing.
Notes on sources
1. Parish magazine of St Mary and Saint Nicholas, Leatherhead, issue of June 1915.
2. Officers Who Died in the Great War (Royal Sussex) - Imperial War Museum, London.
3. Papers of Leatherhead and District History Society reference LX622.
4. File WO 95–1269 War Diary 2nd.Bn. Battalion Royal Sussex, Public Record Office, Richmond, Kew.
Further research
CaptainFINKE, RICHARD FENWICK
Died 09/05/1915
Aged 37
2nd Bn. Royal Sussex Regiment
Son of William and Isabella Finke.
Commemorated at LE TOURET MEMORIAL
Location: Pas de Calais, France
Cemetery/memorial reference: Panel 20 and 21.
He has no known grave.
Richard Finke was a Regular soldier. The Harts Annual List records Richard as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment on 20 May 1899 and then as a Lieutenant on 10 October 1900.
There are records of him travelling to India in 1899 and 1900. He served in South Africa 1899-1902. The listing of awards of the South African Medal notes that "This officer conducted a draft from India to South Africa in February 1902 and returned to India on completion of duty, having travelled from Durban to Bloemfontein with the draft."
In 1914 he was in a house in Inkerman Barracks which was on Raglan Road, Knaphill Surrey. Possibly he was in one of the military accommodation houses in Raglan Road which are all that now remains of the Barracks.
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
Saturday 22 May 1915
LEATHERHEAD AND THE WAR.
LOCAL MEN KILLED IN ACTION.
During the past week information has been received in Leatherhead of three local men having been killed in action France. On May 9th Capt. Richard Fenwick Finke, of the 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment, was reported missing and believed to be killed. Capt. Finke, who was 37 years of age, was the youngest son of Mrs. Finke, The Highlands, Leatherhead, and was very well known locally.
LOCAL MEN KILLED IN ACTION.
During the past week information has been received in Leatherhead of three local men having been killed in action France. On May 9th Capt. Richard Fenwick Finke, of the 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment, was reported missing and believed to be killed. Capt. Finke, who was 37 years of age, was the youngest son of Mrs. Finke, The Highlands, Leatherhead, and was very well known locally.
Tuesday 25 May 1915
CAPTAIN R. F. FINKE. Mrs. Finke, of
Highlands House, Leatherhead, has received information that her son,
Captain Richard Fenwick Finke, 2nd Battalion Sussex Regiment, was killed
in action on the 9th inst. He was 37 years of age, and the youngest son
of the late Mr. William Finke, of London.
Friday 31 December 1915
ROLL OF HONOUR.
BRAVE SURREY MEN FALLEN IN THE WAR.
LEATHERHEAD AND DISTRICT.
Capt. Richard Fenwick Finke, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt., killed in action in France on May 9th. Son of Mrs. Finke, The Highlands, Leatherhead.
BRAVE SURREY MEN FALLEN IN THE WAR.
LEATHERHEAD AND DISTRICT.
Capt. Richard Fenwick Finke, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt., killed in action in France on May 9th. Son of Mrs. Finke, The Highlands, Leatherhead.
October 1914
B. In H.M. Regular Forces not as yet at the Front.
Finké, Capt. R. F.,
June 1915
As the war goes on our anxieties and sorrows increase. Of those who have gone out from this place on active service the number which is exposed to immediate risk of life is ever growing: we have lately heard that three more of our younger men have been wounded, though none, I trust, dangerously: and the deaths of Capt. Finké, of Frederick Cobbold, and of Lewis Long in action near Ypres have brought grief to three more of our homes.
IN MEMORIAM
The following have laid down their lives for their Country.
...
Apl. 24, 1915 Frederick Cobbold, 2nd East Surrey, killed in action in Flanders
Apl. 25, 1915 Lewis Wood Long, 1st East Surrey, , killed in action in Flanders
May 9, 1915 Richard Fenwick Finké, Capt., 2nd Royal Sussex, killed in action in Flanders
Captain Richard Fenwick Finké, while leading his Company of the 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment into action, was killed near Ypres, on May 9th. He was the second son of Mrs. Finké of Highlands House, Letherhead, for whom and for her family the deepest sympathy in their great loss is felt by all who live here.
Captain Finké is the sixth of those from this Parish who have given their lives on behalf of the safety and honour of their country in this war. R.I.P.
B. In H.M. Regular Forces not as yet at the Front.
Finké, Capt. R. F.,
June 1915
As the war goes on our anxieties and sorrows increase. Of those who have gone out from this place on active service the number which is exposed to immediate risk of life is ever growing: we have lately heard that three more of our younger men have been wounded, though none, I trust, dangerously: and the deaths of Capt. Finké, of Frederick Cobbold, and of Lewis Long in action near Ypres have brought grief to three more of our homes.
IN MEMORIAM
The following have laid down their lives for their Country.
...
Apl. 24, 1915 Frederick Cobbold, 2nd East Surrey, killed in action in Flanders
Apl. 25, 1915 Lewis Wood Long, 1st East Surrey, , killed in action in Flanders
May 9, 1915 Richard Fenwick Finké, Capt., 2nd Royal Sussex, killed in action in Flanders
Captain Richard Fenwick Finké, while leading his Company of the 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment into action, was killed near Ypres, on May 9th. He was the second son of Mrs. Finké of Highlands House, Letherhead, for whom and for her family the deepest sympathy in their great loss is felt by all who live here.
Captain Finké is the sixth of those from this Parish who have given their lives on behalf of the safety and honour of their country in this war. R.I.P.
The Le Touret Memorial commemorates over
13,400 British soldiers who were killed in this sector of the Western
Front from the beginning of October 1914 to the eve of the Battle of
Loos in late September 1915 and who have no known grave. The Memorial
takes the form of a loggia surrounding an open rectangular court.
The names of those commemorated are listed
on panels set into the walls of the court and the gallery, arranged by
regiment, rank and alphabetically by surname within the rank. The
memorial was designed by John Reginald Truelove, who had served as an
officer with the London Regiment during the war, and unveiled by the
British ambassador to France, Lord Tyrrell, on 22 March 1930.
Almost all of the men commemorated on the Memorial served with regular or territorial regiments from across the United Kingdom and were killed in actions that took place along a section of the front line that stretched from Estaires in the north to Grenay in the south.
Almost all of the men commemorated on the Memorial served with regular or territorial regiments from across the United Kingdom and were killed in actions that took place along a section of the front line that stretched from Estaires in the north to Grenay in the south.
This part of the Western Front was the
scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the first year of the war,
including the battles of La Bassée (10 October-2 November 1914), Neuve
Chapelle (10-12 March 1915), Aubers Ridge (9-10 May 1915), and Festubert
(15-25 May 1915).
The British Expeditionary Force in
French Flanders, 1914 - 1915
In October 1914, II Corps of the British Expeditionary Force moved north from Picardy and took up positions in French Flanders where they were immediately engaged in the series of attacks and counter attacks that would become known as the ‘race to the sea’. Over the course of the next year most of the British activity in this sector focused on attempting to dislodge the German forces from their advantageous position on the Aubers Ridge and capture the city of Lille, a major industrial and transport centre which the Germans had occupied early in the war. The ridge is a slight incline in an otherwise extremely flat landscape from which the Germans were able to observe and bombard the British lines.
Following the British capture of the
village of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915, the Germans greatly
strengthened their defences along the ridge, reinforcing their positions
with thick barbed wire entanglements, concrete blockhouses and machine
gun emplacements. These extra defences frustrated British attempts to
break through enemy lines and led to very heavy casualties at the
battles of Aubers Ridge and Festubert in May 1915.
Le Touret Military Cemetery
The men of the Indian Corps began burying their fallen comrades at this site in November 1914 and the cemetery was used continually by field ambulances and fighting units until the German spring offensive began in March 1918.
Richebourg L’Avoue was overrun by the
German forces in April 1918, but the cemetery was used again in
September and October after this territory was recaptured by the Allies.
Today over 900 Commonwealth servicemen who were killed during the First
World War are buried there.
His life
Richard Fenwick Finke (or Finké) was born on 2 October 1877 and baptised at St Stephen the Martyr, Hampstead, London on 25 November 1877. His parents were living at 18 Primrose Hill Road.His father was Friedrich Wilhelm Finke, a Wine Merchant from Bremen, Germany. He later anglicised his name to Frederick William. When he died in Brighton on 8 January 1894 two addresses were recorded - 23 Albert Road, Gloucester Gate, Regents Park, Middlesex (as in the 1891 Census) and 27 Clements Lane, London.
His mother was Isabella Finke née Fenwick, born 1 July 1841, baptised 20 November 1843 at St Mary's, Marylebone, London, a daughter of Joseph Fenwick and Elizabeth Bernard Hughes. Her father was a Wine Merchant and they lived at 8 Blandford Square. Her sisters Jane and Mary were baptised with her. In the 1851 Census, Joseph was a widower.
Perhaps Richard was named after one of Isabella's brothers, Richard M Fenwick?
Her death was registered in April 1921 at Epsom, Surrey.
Richard's parents' marriage was registered in Q3 1863 at Marylebone, London.
From the Registers of Births his siblings were Marguerite b 1867, Albert Diedrich b1869, Wilhelm Joseph b 1870, Marie b 1873, Alice Hilda Johanna b 1874, Olga Doris b 1883, and Elfrida b 1886.
Olga (Miss O. Finke) later played a part in the story of the Ladies War Shrine and was involved with the decisions on the names on the Town Memorial. Her sister Hilda (Mrs Clark-Kennedy) was also involved when it was moved to the Parish Church.
His father and five of the children were naturalised British in 1871. It is noted that an Elfrida was listed.
Richard attended Cheltenham College from September 1891 to July 1896. He was a useful batsman. In Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914-1918 he has this entry:
CAPT RICHARD FENWICK FINKE (2nd Royal
Sussex) killed on May 9 [1915], was in the Cheltenham Eleven in 1895 and
1896. He was a useful batsman and a smart field at point. He served in
the South African War and was 37.
His probate record states his address as Highlands House, Leatherhead, Surrey.
His mother, who was widowed in 1894, lived for a time in Doods Road, Reigate, Surrey (Electoral Registers 1896-99) and she was at Highlands House, Leatherhead from at least 1904.
After the war
His mother Isabella died at the age of 79 on 23 April 1921, still living at Highlands House, Leatherhead. When she was buried at St Mary's Reigate, Surrey, on 27 April 1921 the funeral was taken by the Rev TF Hobson, the Vicar of Leatherhead.Richard Finke is also remembered on these memorials
Leatherhead Town Memorial
Leatherhead RBL Roll of Honour, Leatherhead Parish Church
Ladies War Shrine, Leatherhead Parish Church
Surrey in the Great War
Cheltenham College - The 702
the website editor would like to add
further information on this casualty
e.g. a photo of him, his headstone, and any recollections of him
last updated 6 Aug 20