RICHARD HERBERT RODWELL
Richard is not remembered on the war memorial at Christchurch Park.
Image from the Evening Star – 31st August 1944
“DICK”
Born: 3rd February 1921, St. Matthew’s, Ipswich.
Died: 12th October 1943; age: 22; MPK when H.M. Submarine ‘Usurper’ was attacked with depth charges in the Gulf of Genoa.
Residence: 53, St. Matthew’s Church Lane, Ipswich.
Occupation: Clerk in the office of Messrs. William Brown & Co., Ipswich.
Rank: Able Seaman; Service Number: P/JX 235070.
Regiment: Royal Navy, H.M. Submarine ‘Usurper.’
Memorial Reference:
Panel 75. Column 3.
Hampshire.
Relatives Notified & Address: Son of Herbert Elias & Harriett Elizabeth Rodwell, of Ipswich.
Father: Herbert Elias Rodwell, born 1888, St. Matthew’s, Ipswich – died 1931, Ipswich.
Mother: Harriett Elizabeth Rodwell (nee Laffling), born August 1891, Somersham, Suffolk.
CENSUS
1921 47 – 49, St. Matthew’s Church Lane, Ipswich.
Richard was 5 months old and lived with his parents, brother and paternal uncles.
Herbert Rodwell, 32 years & 9 months old, a Labourer at the Ipswich Gas Company, Duke Street, Ipswich.
Harriet Rodwell, 29 years & 10 months old, Home Duties.
Derrick Bryan Rodwell, 22 months old, born St. Matthew’s, Ipswich.
Charles Hunter Rodwell, 28 years & 6 months old, a Taxi Cab Driver for Canham & Son, of St. Matthew’s Street, born St. Matthew’s, Ipswich.
William Arthur Rodwell, 23 years & 8 months old, an Oyster Operner for Mr. Cook, Oyster Merchant, of Ipswich, born St. Matthew’s, Ipswich.
Spencer Philip George Rodwell, 21 years & 1 month old, a Motor Delivery Van Driver for Haddock & Baines Ltd. – Wholesale Stationers, of Princes Street, Ipswich, born St. Matthew’s, Ipswich.
ENGLAND & WALES REGISTER 1939
Richard was employed as a Clerk for a Cement and Builders’ Merchants. He lived with his widowed mother at the family home – 41, St. Matthew’s Church Lane, Ipswich.
Richard’s father, Herbert Elias Rodwell died in 1931, Ipswich.
Richard was a keen footballer and played for Old Grammarians.
HMS Usurper (Lt. David Roger Oakeley Mott, DSC, RN) had left Algiers on 24th September 1943 with instructions to patrol off La Spezia. Late on 3 October 1943, she was ordered to move to the Gulf of Genoa. No further contact was made, and she failed to return to Algiers on 12 October 1943 as expected. The German anti-submarine vessel UJ-2208 reported attacking a submarine in the Gulf of Genoa on the morning of 4 October 1943, and it is often believed that this may have been the Usurper. However, we think this attack is bogus, and the most likely cause of HMS Usurper’s loss is due to mining.
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