Richard George Masters VC

b. 23/03/1877 Birkdale, Lancashire. d. 04/04/1963 Southport, Lancashire.

Richard George Masters (1877-1963) was born on 23rd March 1877 at 61a Everton Road, Birkdale, Lancashire. His father, David Brown Masters, was born at Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. He married Elizabeth Ann Endersby (also seen as Insby and Ensby) on 19th November 1864 at Dunton, Bedfordshire. She had been a housekeeper prior to marriage. David was later a carter for Townends of Southport. It is not known what became of Elizabeth, as on 16th April 1876 at Stoke Newington Parish Church, London, David remarried to Margaret Harris Vittle Doney. Margaret was originally from Cornwall. Richard had ten siblings from his father’s two marriages.

Richard was educated at St Peter’s School, Birkdale, Birkdale Council School and Bury Road School, Southport until 1891. He was employed delivering wines and spirits and food from a shop in Everton Road, Southport. He was later was an assistant in the cycle trade for Messrs Timberlake and by 1901 was a cycle fitter. He was also employed at Bamber’s Cycles in Hall Street and Kensington Road, Southport and became a foreman cycle mechanic. From 1898 until he enlisted he was a chauffeur for Mr Pennington of Lancaster Road, Birkdale. He was a champion cyclist, winning many trophies, including the North of England Championship between 1898-1900.

Richard G Masters VC

On 9th November 1901 he married Alice Johnson at Ormskirk, Lancashire. She was a laundry maid before marriage. They had three children – Bessie, Constance and Douglas.

Richard enlisted as a driver in the Army Service Corps in London on 8th February 1915 and joined at Grove Park, Greenwich the following day. He embarked on SS St Pancras on 12th March, landing at Rouen on 15th March. He was attached to the Heavy Motor Transport Depot on 21st March until posted to 3rd Field Ambulance RAMC, 1st Division for specialist training. On 3rd September he was posted to 141st Field Ambulance RAMC and was awarded a Good Conduct Badge on 8th February 1917. He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his actions on the Somme on 7th March 1917, where following a bombing raid he drove his ambulance to an advanced dressing station located in a quarry four times under heavy artillery fire in order to clear the wounded who were trapped. He was later wounded by shrapnel in his knee at Passchendaele and returned to duty on 9th November. He received the Croix de Guerre from Brigadier General Richard Fielding Edwards CMG at the Town Hall, Southport on 24th January 1918.

On 9th April 1918 near Bethune, France, owing to an enemy attack, communications were cut off and the wounded could not be evacuated. The road was reported impassable but Private Masters volunteered to try to get through and after great difficulty succeeded, although he had to clear the road of all sorts of debris. He made journey after journey throughout the afternoon over a road which was being shelled and swept by machine-gun fire and once he was bombed by an aeroplane. The greater number of wounded (approximately 200 men) were evacuated by him as his was the only car which got through.

He was gazetted for the VC on 8th May 1918. The VC was presented to him by King George V at HQ First Army, Ranchicourt, France on 8th August 1918. After being demobbed as Private Masters, he returned to being a private chauffeur for Sir George Stephenson, owner of the Southport Visitor newspaper, and later for Sir William Pickles Hartley, of Hartley’s Jam. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the RASC and became Life President of the Southport Branch. He attended the VC Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on 26th June 1920, and would also attend the VC Centenary Celebrations at Hyde Park on 26th June 1956.

Masters died aged 86 at 35 Palmerston Road, Southport on 4th April 1963, after a few months’ illness. His funeral was at St Cuthbert’s, Southport, where he was buried with his wife on 8th April. He is commemorated by an accommodation block named after him at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, an Army Reserve Centre named after him at Bootle, Lancashire, named on the memorial in Southport Garden of Remembrance to the recipients of the VC from Southport, and has a VC commemorative stone at Southport War Memorial, unveiled on 21st April 1918.

In addition to his VC, he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19, George VI Coronation Medal 1937, Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953, and the French Croix de Guerre 1914-18 with Bronze Palm. His family presented his VC to the Royal Corps of Transport in June 1963 and it can be seen at the Royal Logistic Corps Museum, Worthy Down, Winchester. In the early 1970s the RAF Establishment at Farnborough acquired a former inshore minesweeper for research purposes and it was named after Masters at a ceremony at Gun Wharf, Portsmouth. The naming ceremony was carried out by his sister. The boat was used for thirty years before being retired.

On Monday 17th April 2023, a rededication service was held at St Cuthbert’s, Southport following the replacement of Richard Masters VC’s headstone with a new black marble headstone. This project was instigated by volunteers and members of the Masters family who wanted a more fitting tribute to Richard Masters VC.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: ROYAL LOGISTIC CORPS MUSEUM, WORTHY DOWN, WINCHESTER, HAMPSHIRE.

BURIAL PLACE: ST CUTHBERT’S CHURCHYARD, SOUTHPORT, LANCASHIRE.

Section II near the Cemetery Wall.