Francis Philip Woodruff

Frank Richards a.k.a. Francis Philip Woodruff DCM, MM (1883–1961) was a World War I soldier and author. Born in Monmouthshire, he was orphaned at the age of nine, and was then brought up by his aunt and uncle in the Blaina area of the South Wales Valleys in industrial Monmouthshire. The uncle, his mother's twin brother, and surnamed Richards, adopted Frank who then changed his surname. During the 1890s Frank Richards worked as coal miner and joined Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1901, serving in the British Empire forces in British India under the British Raj and Burma from 1902 to 1909, after which he transferred to the reserves. He is best known as the author of one of the most widely acclaimed memoirs of the Great War to be written by a ranker, Old Soldiers Never Die.

Richards, an orphan, was brought up by his aunt and uncle in Blaina, Monmouthshire where, in the 1890s, he worked as a coal miner. It was while drinking in the pub at Blaina that he heard the news of the outbreak of war. He joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in April 1901 and served in India and Burma from 1902-09 when, having completed his seven years with the colours, he transferred to the military reserves. However he extended his reserve service for a further four years until 1912.

A reservist soldier when war broke out in August 1914, working as a timber assistant, Richards rejoined the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, in which he remained for the duration of the war.

Remarkably, Richards saw action in virtually all of the major British campaigns on the Western Front without suffering any notable injury. Unable to return to the coal mines following the war because of a physical injury, Richards was obliged to earn his living from numerous temporary jobs.

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