Cpl 200827 Richard Morris Silvey

• Age: 20
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• D.O.W Monday 10th September 1917
• Commemorated at: Outtersteene Cc Ext, Bailleul
  Panel Ref: I.A.43

Richard Morris Silvey was born 08^th October 1896 at Liverpool and was baptised 18^th October 1896 at Kirkdale, Liverpool. He was the son of Joseph Charles and Ann Jane Silvey (nee Morris), of 77 Langham St, Kirkdale, Liverpool who had married at St Mary's Church, Kirkdale in 1891. He was educated at St Lawrence's Church of England School, Croylands Street.

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 77, Langham Street, Kirkdale, Liverpool. His father, Joseph Charles, is aged 38, and is a carter’s clerk, whilst his mother, Ann Jane, is aged 32, and has no occupation listed. At the time of the Census they have four children, Alfred Joseph aged 9, John Morris aged 7, Richard Morris aged 4, and Annie aged 2. They also have a servant Lydia Blackburn aged 23, born 1878 living at the address.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 77 Langham St, Kirkdale, Liverpool. The father Joseph Charles aged 49, born 1862 is a clerk for a master carter who was born in Liverpool. His wife Ann Jane is aged 42, born 1869 also in Liverpool as were their children. They have been married for twenty years and have had eight children of which two died, Alfred Joseph aged 19, born 1892 an invoice clerk for an electrical supplies company, John Morris aged 17, born 1894 is a carter, Richard Morris aged 14, is a junior clerk at the Liverpool Stock Exchange, Charles aged 3, born 1908 and Stanley born 1911.

Richard enlisted in Liverpool and was serving in the 20th Battalion (D Company), The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Corporal No 200827 when he died of wounds on the 10th September, 1917, aged 20, during the Third Battle of Ypres.

He now lies in Outtersteene Communal Cemetery, Belgium.

Outtersteene was captured by the III Corps on 13 October 1914 but no Commonwealth burials took place there for nearly three years. In August 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, the 2nd, 53rd and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations came to Outtersteene, and the first and last of these remained until March 1918. The hamlet was captured by the Germans on 12 April 1918, and retaken by the 9th, 29th and 31st Divisions, with the ridge beyond it, on 18 and 19 August, but the cemetery was not used again during hostilities. After the Armistice, over 900 graves of 1914 and 1918 were brought into Plots I, II and IV from the battlefields surrounding Outtersteene and from certain small cemeteries. In the Extension, on the East side of the Communal Cemetery, were buried 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Australia, who fell in August and September 1918. 1,147 German graves were initially concentrated into Plot III. These were later removed to Steenwerck German Cemetery. The extension was used again in 1940, for the burial of those killed in the fighting which covered the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk. Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension now contains 1,393 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 499 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 14 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Second World War burials number 72, of which 23 are unidentified. The extension was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

His death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on the 19th September 1917:

SILVEY - September 10, died of wounds in France after 3 years service, Corporal Richard Morris Sylvey K.L.R., beloved son of Joseph C. and Annie Silvey of 77 Langham Street, Kirkdale. (Duty nobly done.)

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