(Circa 1916, after enlisting in the Royal Army Medical Corps)
Richard George Austin, known as Dick, was born to John Albert Austin and Minnie Maria Parkes on 2 March 1896 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England.
He was the second child born to this union and the eldest of four surviving children. Raised in Birmingham, he appears on the census in 1901 as a 5-year-old at 54 Osler Street, Ladywood.
(Circa 1908 football team showing Richard George Austin and his future brother-in-law
Edward Joseph Cotterill)
On the 1911 census he is living with his family in 4 rooms at 2/29 Shakespeare Road, where at age 15 he is working as a manufacturing jeweler for a ringmaker (see here for details of his apprenticeship)
(Photograph of old houses on Shakespeare Road, Birmingham, in 1968, shortly before their demolition; photo by Phyllis Nicklin)
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(Circa 1915, L-R: Edward Joseph Cotterill, unknown seated, Richard George Austin)
Prior to World War I, Dick had enlisted in the Territory Army in order, as he said, "to have holidays", getting to camp out and visit places other than Birmingham. However, when the war began, by 1916 he was a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
He served as a private until his capture on 26 March 1918. The details of his capture are outlined in two letters written to his family, one by a fellow soldier and one by his commanding officer:
After capture, Dick was sent to the German prisoner-of-war camp 1 mile northeast of the town of Stendal (which is 100 km west of Berlin). The camp at Stendal was opened in 1914 and initially held mostly Russian prisoners. Over the course of its occupation, it came to be a site for all manner of enlisted Allied prisoners; 470 captives died there. Selected prisoners were sent out of the camp on work release at Stendal, including the glass factory, sugar refinery, gardening, and in the hospital.
Dick was able to send out a postcard himself to his sweetheart (and future wife) Nance Austin:
The message on the postcard reads:
April 5th 1918
My Dear Nancy
I was taken prisoner on March 26th but you will be pleased to hear that I
am quite well. I have not yet settled
down but as soon as if possible I can, I will
write. Wallie was also take
prisoner with a wound on his thigh, but he is quite alright. Hope you have
received news from him before this time.
I am sending this hoping you will receive it, also one home.
Best wishes to all
Ever yours
Dick
Nancy (it is presumed) has written Recd June 29/18 on it. [Transcribed by granddaughter Jo Austin Davies.]
Dick Austin had considered becoming a conscientious objector at the start of the war, but since the persecution of those making such a choice was severe, he found doing ambulance and medical work an acceptable alternative. He therefore not morally opposed to providing medical care to whoever needed it. He was allowed to leave the POW camp to work in the Stendal hospital. The family holds a copy of the pass which granted him to allow this limited mobility:
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Translation of the above by Karen Williams shows it to read:
This identification card grants permission to Prisoner of War number 2/8842 R.G. Austin, working in the hospital, to visit the town of Stendal unaccompanied, for the purposes of work or personal business. The bearer is obliged on his exit from the camp and on his return, which must be before 7pm, to report to the company clerks’ room.
Failure to comply with these conditions will result in the withdrawal of this pass.
Stendal, 24 December 1918
On behalf of the Soldiers’ Council (signature), Sergeant
Authorised by (signature), Sergeant Belzer
During the war, Dick sent home an item which has become a family treasure.
The best description of this candlestick comes from Dick's unsigned will decades later: "Old candlestick which I found in church ruins in France to Margot E. Williams. This among other personal items was sent to my Parents with the news that I was missing, believed killed. He (my father) recognising it as a piece of Ecclesiastical work 100 or more years old, extended the stem and reassembled it on top of the bicycle bell which I had used as a candlestick in my dugouts during 1914-18 war." The candlestick is now in the possession of granddaughter Margot Elaine Williams.
Dick remained in captivity until the end of the war. He was sent to Denmark for a short time after the war before returning to England. While there, he wrote the following poignant postcard to Nancy:
[Imprinted on the Danish Red Cross postcard is a small verse by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson which translated into English reads: "There goes a quiet train through the match tumult of prayer in all Languages; it bends toward the fallen down with the cross on his shoulder with a message from Home and Peace."]
Denmark
7 Jan 1919
To: Miss Cotterill
33 Alexandra Street
Ladywood
Birmingham
England
Dearest,
I am still quite well but longing to be with you. Trust you are quite A.1. Am having a very fine time here, but at looking for the finest time in B'ham: which I sincerely hope is not very far ahead. Give my very good wishes to your people, and accept
All the love of
Yours ever
Dick
(In upper left corner)
P.S. The red flag with a white cross is the flag of Denmark.
(Wedding photo of Richard George "Dick" Austin and Emma Annie "Nance" Cotterill,
25 September 1920, Birmingham, England, annotated; one of Nance's bridesmaids, Bessie Turl, would marry her brother Ted in 1922)
(Emma Annie "Nancy" Cotterill, circa 1916; see here for her ancestry.)
After they married, they moved to a "back of" address in St Vincent Street, Ladywood, where their first two children were born. By 1931 they had moved to 26 Ashbourne Road, Rotton Park. When they moved to the second place, Dick's sister Minnie and family took over the St Vincent Street house.
Dick worked as a diamond setter. They were blessed with three children:
Joyce Nancy "Joy" Austin, born 30 September 1922 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Brian Richard Austin, born 10 July 1926 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Enid Rosemary Austin, born 22 September 1931 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
(Beach hut at Bournemouth, June 1935: Back row, Nancy and Joy Austin; front row Enid and Brian Austin; photo taken by Dick Austin)
The family lost their beloved Nance Austin in the summer of 1945. Dick worked as a diamond setter until his retirement in 1960.
Once Dick was on his own, he moved to a sheltered accommodation flat in Lanchester Way, Chelmsley Wood around 1970. After 1974, he went to live with each of his children in rotation. Eventually he had to go into a nursing home called Annie Wood House, which is where he passed away on 9 April 1979. He is buried at Perry Barr Crematorium, Birmingham, England, where his ashes were scattered where Nance had been interred. His name has been cut below that of Nance's with, at his request, the addition of the word "Reunited".
