St John, Richard

Person

St John, Richard

Richard St John Jr. was born in Glasgow on 4th October 1893, one of 4 children of Annie St John and Richard St John, a wine and spirit merchant. St John attended The Glasgow School of Art from 1912 to 1914 as an evening student of architecture, during that time his occupation is noted as an architecture apprentice. St John continued his education at The Glasgow School of Art between 1918-1919 as an evening student of drawing and painting course and his occupation status changed to architectural draughtsman.

During the First World War, St John served as a Private in the London Regiment (his service numbers were #514041 and #8219), although the Roll of Honour informs that he served with the Highland Light Infantry. To this day the London Regiment is known as one of the largest companies ever created in the British Army. By the end of May 1915 it included 82 battalions. All soldiers in the regiment wore uniforms made of homespun cloth commonly known as Hodden Grey, but each of the battalions wore their own unique cap badge to avoid inter-clan rivalry.

It is unclear what happened to Richard St John after the war, however some records indicate that he was travelling (on the "Olympic" White Star Dominion shipping Line) from New York to Southampton in June 1923. His date and place of death is still unknown. Richard St John is commemorated on The Glasgow School of Art's First World War Roll of Honour.

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Sources: Ancestry http://www.ancestry.co.uk, Scottish Post Office Directories (1828 – 1912 - Post Office annual Glasgow directory 1911-1912) http://digital.nls.uk/, The Army http://www.army.mod.uk/

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