GUNNER JOHN RIPLEY
ROYAL GARRISON ARTILLERY
7TH AUGUST 1917 AGE 38
BURIED: DICKEBUSCH NEW MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM
This is a tribute from a sister to her brother, John Ripley, a butcher from North Cowton near Darlington in Yorkshire. Called up in 1916, Ripley served with the 9th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery and died of wounds at a Field Ambulance Dressing Station in Dikkebus on 7 August 1917, a week into the Third Ypres Campaign.
I have no doubt that Mary Ripley believed the words she chose to describe her brother: that he was honourable, noble and generous, but they are very much the qualities of an idealised type. However, it shows how important these qualities were considered to be. Yesterday, William Hadley Frank Redgate was described by his wife as 'the most unselfish and loveable natured man". This definitely has the ring of individuality to it, but Mary Ripley has done her brother proud.