Richard Samuel Steatham.
(23-Sep-24 to 28-Jul-44).

A summary of his life

Richard was born on the 23 September 1924, at 417 Darlaston Road, Walsall, baptised on the same day at St John, Pleck, his parents were James Arthur Steatham and Elizabeth Smith. He had two brothers and five sisters.






This is the photo that Richard's sister, Florence Emily Steatham carried in her Indentity papers wallet, all through the war.















Richard married Olive Beckett on the 7th March 1944, at St John Church, Pleck, Walsall, Staffs.














His death was reported in the Walsall Observer Front Page 12-Aug-1944, with a photo of Richard, which said:-

Married only three months ago, the wife of Pte. Richard Samual Steatham, who lives with her parents at 27 Bassett Street Walsall has been notified that he had fallen in action while serving in Normandy. His parents live at 417 Darlaston Road Pleck. Only 19 years of age.

Pte. Steatham joined the army in December, 1942, having been previously employed in the L.M.S. Goods Department at Darlaston. He is an old boy Hillary Street School.

An elder brother, Sapper John William Steatham, is in Italy with the Royal Engineers and has been serving abroad for about 15 months.

Richard is the only Steatham recorded as being killed while serving in the armed forces.

His army number was 14376672, 5th Batt South Staffs Regiment, and his buried at Fontenay-Le-Pesnel, Tessel, France. - Grave Number III B 13.


Location:

The village of Fontenay-le-Pesnel lies 16 kilometres west of Caen on the main road (the D9) towards Caumont l'Evente. The cemetery is 1 kilometre south-east of the hamlet of St Martin (on the D139 to Grainville); on reaching a large memorial to the 49th (West Riding) Division, turn down the track opposite the memorial which leads directly to the cemetery.





Historical Information:

The Allied offensive in north-western Europe began with the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944. Fontenay-le-Pesnel War Cemetery contains the graves of men who died in the fighting to the west and south-west of Caen in June-July 1944.

There are particularly large numbers of graves of the South Staffordshire, East Lancashire, Royal Warwickshire Regiments, and the Durham Light Infantry. The cemetery contains 460 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.
There are also 59 German graves.

There was another Steatham who served in the 1914-18 War, but his named was recorded incorrectly as Streatham in the records.