Rushden Research Group: Richardson-Church

Mollie Smith, 2025

Alfred Richardson & Nelly (nee Church)


Alfred Richardson	Nellie Church

Alfred W Richardson married Nellie Church, daughter of William and Amelia Church. Alfred was aged 15 years in 1901 and living with his parents, Walter and Kate in Newton Road, Rushden. He had brothers Albert, Arthur and Percy, and sisters, Kate and Elsie. Alfred was a boot finisher.

Nellie (Edith Ellen) was the second child of William and Amelia. In the 1901 census she was a shoe fitter, aged 16 years living at 2 Midland Road.

After their marriage in 1913 they lived at 8 Midland Road, Rushden.

Alfred served in WWI but I have been unable to discover his regiment.

Alfred is third from the left on the back row.

The Richardson family

In 1918 a son, Dennis William was born and a daughter, Barbara in 1925 .

Dennis was educated at Rushden Intermediate School and was a member of St. Peter's Church.

He was a plasterer and worked for a number of local firms in the district and at Birmingham.

Dennis Richardson

He joined the army in February 1940 and was in the 2^nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment.

In 1942 he was posted overseas and on May the 8^th 1944 he was killed while attempting to bring in a wounded man in the battle of Kohima, Burma.

Dennis is buried in Kohima Military Cemetery.

From a newscutting:

Christmas greetings of young Britons are speeding to the beloved Mother Country. This one arrived by airgraph sending a hearty wish in modern and ingenious form, from Pte. D. Richardson with the Norfolks (in India), to Mr. E. Bennett, hon. secretary of the Rushden Serving Men's Parcels Fund, who in his own Army days knew India well.

The gravestone

On leaving school Barbara Richardson worked in the Co-operative Drapery Store in Rushden High Street. During the war years she met her future husband, Jack Wardell who lived with his widowed mother at 18 Midland Road, Rushden. Jack was not called for RAF service until early 1944.


Barbard and Jack Wardell	.... and on their wedding day in 1946

They married in 1946 and continued to live at 18 Midland Road until the seventies when they moved to Whitefriars.

Their leisure pursuits included the Rushden Query Club and the Golf Club.


1951 Jack is second from left back row and Barbara is at the front.	At Wymington in 1951 - 1st on left is Barbara Wardell

Jack died on the golf course in the eighties. Barbara died in 2002 aged 77 years. There were no children.