Richard Batten Gedye 1876-1917

Headstone 15

~ Marble ~ Semi-circular top, indented sides and stepped shoulders, decorated with vine branches and fruit, a-topped with a centralised roped IHS decoration, with kerbs

  • Richard Batten Gedye 1876 – 27 April 1917
    • Aged 41 years
    • Son of Joseph William Gedye
    • of Polperro
    • ‘who died at Royal Navy Hospital, Edinburgh’
    • “Duty nobly done”
  • Joseph William Gedye 1835 – 25 December 1907
    • Aged 72 years

Richard Batten Gedye entered the Royal Navy in 1894 as an Ordinary Seaman and rose to Chief Petty Officer HMS Vivid (Devonport) Service No: 178765 – Died of war related sickness. Unmarried.

Ancestry records – show Richard grows up in the ‘Three Pilchards’ public house, Polperro, where his father, Joseph William Gedye, is the Innkeeper. His mother was Rachel Gedye (née Batten).

The Dardanelles naval campaign, at the start of 1915, was seen as a military disaster with heavy losses. Many men from Polperro were away in active service including Richard Batten Gedye, R.N, Chief Stoker on HMS Conqueror.

Richard Batten Gedye is also remembered on the War Memorial found on the South West Coast Path, between Talland & Polperro.

The plain granite cross stands on three square granite blocks at Downend Point; the names of the sailors face out to sea and the names of the soldiers towards the land.

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