BABBS, Richard

Richard Babbs was born in Wordsley and was probably living in Brierley Hill when the Great War started. He served in the 3rd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards in the 1st Guards Brigade. In the 1916 Battle of the Somme they were prominent in the September attacks on the German third main line. On the 15th their attack was held but on the 25th a major victory was obtained by the capture of Morval and Lesboeufs. They were out of the front line for the next two months but Guardsman Richard Babbs had been wounded at some point, possibly at Lesboeufs, and taken to one of the base hospitals at Le Havre. Here he died of wounds on the 2nd November 1916. He is buried in Ste. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre (III N 8) and commemorated on the Wordsley Memorial.