Rank: Corporal 111587 Regiment: 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles Bn., Died: died 2 October 1916 Parish: Newton Poppleford Local Memorials: Newton Poppleford War Memorial Other Memorial: Ardanac Military Cemetery, Miraumont [Google]
The Ryall family is first found in Newton Poppleford in the census of 1891. Oliver Ryall was born in Stowford, Devon, and was married to Mary Ann (nee Ford) from Dartmouth. The family first lived in Dartmouth when they married in 1864, when she was 23 and he was 29. It is possible to infer that as a young man, Oliver was in the Royal Navy.
When they married, he became a police constable. Their first child, Selina, was born in 1865 and their first son Oliver junior was born in 1870. Oliver senior and Mary Ann had 11 surviving children, plus two who died in infancy. The last child, Charles, was born when Mary was 47 and Oliver was 53.
William was their fourth child, born in 1879 in Clyst Honiton, where they appear to have moved in 1873. They all moved again to Newton Poppleford in 1885. Could these moves and others to Lidford and Upton Pyne have been associated with Oliver senior's employment? He was Newton Poppleford's local policeman for several years from around 1885 to 1896 when he retired. He died in 1915 age 81.
Bill Ryall, son of Oliver senior, probably attended school in Newton Poppleford, as his father moved there when he was six. The school was built in 1877. Bill became a builder, and in the 1911 census, aged 32, he is shown as being a "House Builder and General Woodworker". There were, however, two William Henry Ryalls.
One is in the British Army records and is shown to have died on 26 February 1916. He was private no. 670, and served in the Dorset Yeomanry. No place of death is recorded but he is shown to be buried in the UK. The other William Henry is shown in the Canadian Army records; he is Corporal 111587 in 5th Battalion Canadian Mounted Rifles.
This record, from the War Graves Commission shows William Henry Ryall was unmarried and was born 29 October 1893 in "Honidon Wilts". No trace of this place has been found. He was killed in action on 2 October 1916 and is buried in Adamac Cemetery, Miraumont, Somme. His next of kin is Mrs E Ryall, of 2 Otterview, Newton Poppleford. As he was unmarried, we have to conclude that this is his mother, and that she is the wife (maybe widow) of one of Oliver Ryall senior's sons.
William is recorded as age 22 when he was killed. It is apparent that this William Henry left Newton Poppleford and emigrated to Canada where he was employed as a dredgerman until he volunteered to join the Canadian Army in 1915. Of the two William Henry Ryalls, the probability is that it is the second of the above who is commemorated on the Newton Poppleford Memorial.
* Required fields