When Raymond Henry Richardson enlisted at Kettering on 31st January 1917 he was living at 29 Co-op Row, Rushden, aged 18 years 2 months, and worked in the shoe trade. His mother Alice Charlotte, widow of Harry, was his next of kin. His examination at Northampton states he was 5' 11½" tall, weighed 132lbs, with a chest of 34" (3" expansion), of fair physical development but with a slight curvature of the spine. He was allocated TR/9/10202 and was at Dovercourt on 30th March 1917. In July he transferred to the 249 Infantry Battalion and in November to the 51st TR Bedfordshire Battalion. He was sent from the 17th Infantry Brigade Depot to France on 8th January 1918 where he joined the Norfolk Regiment as 41179, on the 13th.

In 1922 Mr. A. T. Clarke was living at 29 Co-op Row, and wrote in reply to a war office letter that Raymond's mother was then at Stone Assylum, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Her sister Mrs. Willett of 8 High Street, New Bradwell wrote to the war office in May to say that her sister was recovered and now living with her.