Private Richard Preston was killed in action on April 17 1918 whilst serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers, 18th Battalion (Tyneside Pioneers). He was 32 years old and the husband of Florence Gertrude Preston Rock Terrace, Jack Lane, Hanging Heaton, Batley, West Yorkshire. His service record does not appear to have survived.

Richard was born on February 25 1886 and his birth registered in the Dewsbury district. When he was baptised the following November his family home was 16 Carlisle Street, Batley Carr, West Yorkshire. His parents Charles Preston and Ellen Tellford were from Doncaster and had married there in 1872. Soon after, they moved across Yorkshire to Batley Carr where Charles took a job as a porter and warehouseman at the local railway goods yard. The Great Northern Goods only line ran direct from Ossett to Batley.

Charles and Ellen had seven children, all born in the Dewsbury district between 1873 and 1888. Their two year old son George Henry died in 1884, and their son Charles died in 1908 aged just 18. They couldn't know that they were destined to lose a third son…

Before the war, Richard was a rag grinder in a shoddy factory. This was essentially the recycling of waste wool and was one of the main industries in the towns of Batley, Dewsbury, Ossett and Heckmondwike. He was the last to leave home and he did so in July 1911 when he married 24 year old Florence Gertrude Haley. Their only child, Charles, was born on September 29 1913.

When the Ossett War Memorial was installed in 1928, Richard Preston's name was included in the Commemorative Programme. Currently (2024), no evidence of an Ossett address has been found, but we do know that Richard worked in Ossett prior to enlisting. Richard's name was added at the memorial in 2018.

The 'Dewsbury Reporter' carried this short account of Private Richard Preston's death: "Official news has been received of the death in action on April 17th of Pte. Richard Preston (32), Northumberland Fusiliers, whose wife and child reside at 20, Field's Buildings, Chickenley Lane, Dewsbury, but who are at present with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Preston, 8, Ellis Buildings, Upper Road, Batley Carr. An officer says 'He was killed instantaneously by a shell whilst building our front line near Baillieul. We buried him the same night in a little farmyard not far from where he fell with his officers and some comrades that fell with him.' Pte Preston before enlisting worked at Messrs. Fitton's Pildacre Mills, Dewsbury, as a rag grinder. He was formerly connected with Batley Carr Old School."

Richard Preston is buried at grave reference I.D.5 at the Mont Noir Military Cemetery, St. Jans-Cappel, Nord, France. The inscription chosen by his family for his headstone reads: FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT

Florence never remarried.