This man is a candidate for addition to Keighley’s Supplementary Volume under the proposal to add further names in 2024, the centenary of the original roll of honour.
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Supported by the National Lottery’s Heritage Fund, our project intends to submit about 120 names for peer review to add them to the book which is kept at Keighley Library. The unveiling of the book with it’s new names is planned for November 2024, 100 years after the unveiling of the original war memorial.

2nd Lieutenant. West Lancashire Field Company, Royal Engineers.

Ralph Oscar Gladstone (photo supplied by family)

Early Life:

Ralph Oscar Gladstone, 2nd Lieutenant of the Royal Engineers, was born in Cardiff, 1890 and was the son of Ralph Atchison Gladstone of Newport, Wales and Martha Gladstone of Crosshills, Keighley.
In the 1891 census, Ralph’s father is listed as aged 27 and working as a potato merchant manager. Ralph’s mother was a milliner aged 30.  This is where Ralph Oscar first appears in our research, aged 1. The family also have a servant living with them, a young lady of 15 named Kate C. Thomas.
By the time the 1911 census occurred, the family were living at 20 Ashville Terrace in Crosshills and were much expanded. Martha is listed as a widower aged 50, with children Ralph Oscar aged 21, Margaret “Jinnie” aged 19 and twins William Edward and Gertie aged 17. Ralph’s occupation is listed as an electrician, and Jinnie is working as a school teacher. Martha continues to be a milliner, working from home with young Gertie as her assistant, whilst William appears as a “clerk for a company”. It is interesting to note that the family no longer had a servant living with them at this point, however Martha’s sister is listed as a visitor; a Miss Jane Issitt; whose occupation is recorded as a dressmaker.

Ralph married Ruby Mabel Virgo at Monmouth Parish Church on 14th April 1916. Ralph Oscar was described as a soldier aged 27 with a deceased father, Ralph. Ruby was a 19 year old spinster with a father Arthur James Virgo, a sculptor. Both Ralph and Ruby were recorded living at Monmouth.
They appear to have had a son, Ralph Gladstone, born in 1917, his mother’s maiden name was Virgo. In the 1921 census he was aged three years and seven months and visiting at Springfield Parade in Monmouth. This was the home of 52 year old widow Elizabeth Symonds (his step-grandmother.) The 1921 census was taken on 19th June 1921 and Ralph was three years and seven months old, suggesting his birth was around November 1917. A death index record found for June 1995 in Doncaster has a Ralph Gladstone aged 77, born on 3rd November 1917. If this is correct, it would mean he was born on the same date as his father Ralph was killed in action.

Scouting Contribution:

As a youngster, Ralph Oscar was an active member in the Keighley Scouting Community and contributed in a ground-breaking way. In his obituary; which was published in the Keighlian Magazine; it stated that he “founded the Kildwick Boy Scouts” based at Kildwick Church. No doubt this involvement in the scouting movement allowed him to excel in practical aspects, which allowed him to become successful in his career as an electrical engineer. Furthermore, his many years spent in the local Territorial Army undoubtedly led to his decision to enlist when war broke out.

Ralph Oscar attended Keighley Boys’ Grammar School from 1902 – 1905. He was exceptionally good at mechanics and passed through the Keighley Technical College (Keighley Trade School) studying mechanical and electrical engineering. He served a successful apprenticeship with the Keighley Electrical Company and became employed by The British Thomson Houston Company, which saw him travelling the continent erecting new plant. At the outbreak of war he was in Seville, Spain, laying electrical plant in a sulphur mine.

War Service:

Ralph may have led a very short life, however it was extremely interesting, his personal contribution and the events that occurred during his service is one that could appear in a blockbuster film. The Keighlian Magazine described Gladstone’s turbulent war efforts in the following article after his tragic death in 1917, “ At the outbreak of War he joined the Army as a Sapper in the Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers, and crossed to France in November, 1914. He spent Christmas, 1914, in the trenches before Ypres, and when the Canadians made their brilliant stand at that place, Ralph Gladstone was engaged in helping to keep a bridge intact across the Ypres Canal. A body of Germans broke through the lines and managed to reach the bridge, where they were met by the Engineers armed with spades and any tools they could find.

A British entrenching tool at the Imperial War Museum.

During the unequal hand-to-hand combat Ralph Gladstone, armed only with an entrenching tool received a bayonet thrust in the chest which put him out of action for some time. Shortly after his return to the firing line he suffered from concussion caused by the bursting of a shell at the door of his dug-out and was afterwards wounded whilst mending barbed-wire entanglements. After spending some months in hospital he returned to Monmouth as Sergeant and Instructor in bayonet practice. He returned to France and was promoted to the position of acting Sergeant-Major. In January, 1917, he returned to England to take up a Commission in the Royal Engineers and went back as an Officer to Ypres, where, on November 3rd, 1917, he was killed by a shell within half a mile of the place where he had fought so bravely in the great battle of Ypres in 1914”.

It seems that Ralph was not only brave but truly committed to the war efforts, returning to service several times in order to train others as well as fight on the front lines after surviving horrific injuries. It is surprising and shocking to discover that he was only awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal and the 1914-1915 Star, seemingly very eligible and deserving of far higher military awards.

Ralph Oscar Gladstone. Image from the ‘Keighlian’ Magazine.

Obituary from the Keighlian magazine, Keighley Boys Grammar School:

RALPH OSCAR GLADSTONE. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Engineers.
Ralph O. Gladstone attended School from September, 1902, to December, 1905. He also passed through the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Departments of the Technical School. He served his apprenticeship with the Keighley Electrical Company, and afterwards obtained a post as Erector for the British Thomson Houston Co., Ltd., Rugby. In this capacity he had charge of the erection of new plant not only in the United Kingdom but also on the Continent. In 1913 he was engaged in putting electrical power into some sulphur mines at Huelva, near Seville, in Spain. Huelva was the port from which Columbus sailed to discover the New World, and Ralph Gladstone’s stay at this place was full of interest to him.
At the outbreak of War he joined the Army as a Sapper in the Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers, and crossed to France in November, 1914. He spent Christmas, 1914, in the trenches before Ypres, and when the Canadians made their brilliant stand at that place, Ralph Gladstone was engaged in helping to keep a bridge intact across the Ypres Canal. A body of Germans broke through the lines and managed to reach the bridge, where they were met by the Engineers armed with spades and any tools they could find. During the unequal hand-to-hand combat Ralph Gladstone, armed only with a trenching tool received a bayonet thrust in the chest which put him out of action for some time. Shortly after his return to the firing line he suffered from concussion caused by the bursting of a shell at the door of his dug-out and was afterwards wounded whilst mending barbed-wire entanglements. After spending some months in hospital he returned to Monmouth as Sergeant and Instructor in bayonet practice.
He returned to France and was promoted to the position of acting Sergeant-Major. In January, 1917, he returned to England to take up a Commission in the Royal Engineers and went back as an Officer to Ypres, where, on November 3rd, 1917, he was killed by a shell within half a mile of the place where he had fought so bravely in the great battle of Ypres in 1914.

Keighley News report dated 10th November 1917, page 3:

LIEUTENANT R. O. GLADSTONE KILLED
Miss Gladstone, of Cross hills, on Wednesday received a telegram from the War Office stating that her brother, Second Lieutenant Ralph Oscar Gladstone, of the Royal Engineers, had been killed in action in France. He joined the Royal Engineers at the outbreak of war, went to France in the winter of 1914, and was severely wounded in the chest in the first battle of Ypres. The Royal Engineers were keeping a bridge going over the canal when the Germans broke through the lines, and the Engineers had a stand-up fight with the enemy, using their tools, picks, spades &c. It was at this time that Private Gladstone received a bayonet thrust. He was wounded a second time about two years ago by shrapnel in the thigh and leg, and after being in the Glasgow War Hospital for some time he went to Monmouthshire as an Army gymnastic instructor.
Subsequently he was made sergeant, and later took up a commission, and returned to France in August last.
He was chosen for special work in the Engineers because of his knowledge of bridge building. He was an old Keighley Trade School boy and an active worker in connection with the Boy Scout movement, founding the Kildwick Church troop of Boy Scouts. He was also in the local Territorials for many years. About the time of the outbreak of war he was out in Spain for the British Thomson Houston Company, at Rugby. Previous to accepting a commission in the Royal Engineers he had been twice offered commissions in the infantry. He was 27 years of age, and leaves a widow. His sister (Miss G. Gladstone) is being trained as a nurse in a hospital at Accrington.
Such is the brief account of the career in this War of one of our bravest Old Boys. Although repeatedly wounded Ralph Gladstone’s spirit was unconquerable and the memory of his gallant services should always remain as a cherished tradition in the School of which he was always proud to call himself a member. We all extend our respectful sympathy to his mother, Mrs. Gladstone, and to his brother and sisters, who have suffered so great a loss.

Ralph’s body was laid to rest in grave 7 of row B in plot VI of the Bard Cottage Cemetery, which is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission site near Ypres in Belgium. He left behind a wife, Ruby Mabel Gladstone who later married Cyril Robert Symonds of Didsbury, Manchester in 1920. Ruby and Cyril had at least one child, Mary Ethel, born in 1921 and recorded in the 1921 census living with Cyril and Ruby at 2, Maple Villas, Olive Street in Hereford. This was the home of Ruby’s parents and they may have just been visiting at the time.

War Pension records suggest that Ralph had an illegitimate child, with the named guardian Miss Mabel Fieldhouse. This is likely to have been from an application for a war pension for herself and the child. She received a pension of 6 shillings and 8d per week from 30th April 1918 which would have lasted until the child’s 16th birthday. Mabel would almost certainly have had to supply a birth certificate to prove this claim.
The address on the pension cards show the child may be Edward Fieldhouse, living at 6 Sunnybank Villas, Glusburn. The 1921 census names an Edward Fieldhouse, born in 1913 and living with his grandparents William and Annabelle Fieldhouse and their daughter Mabel Fieldhouse, living at 6, Sunnybank Villas, Glusburn. An Edward Fieldhouse of Sutton, was killed in 1941 whilst serving in the RAF when his aircraft, a Wellington Bomber was shot down during operations in the North Sea.

Information sources:

England and Wales birth records
1891 Census
1901 Census
1911 Census
British Army Service Records
British Army Medal Index Card and Medal Rolls
Soldiers Effects Records
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Records
West Yorkshire Electoral Rolls
England and Wales Death Records
British Army World War One Pension Records (W0364)
The Keighlian Magazine
The Keighley News archives at Keighley Library
Imperial War Museum

Note:

After further research into Ralph Oscar and Ruby’s lives, I have added a section detailing any possible children into the section dealing with Ralph’s early life, prior to war service.
(Andy Wade)