Richard attended Wrekin College, Shropshire, from 1935-1939 and then went on to Birmingham University to study electrical engineering and so was exempt from military service until completion of full-time education.
However, he volunteered for service in the RAF in the autumn of 1940. After completing qualifying training in England Richard was then expected to complete his course and gain his commission in Rhodesia. In this regard he was a passenger on the troopship SS Anselm en route to South Africa when the vessel was sunk by U boat U-96, 300 miles north of the Azores on Saturday the 5th of July 1941: he was aged 19.
Richard was the son of Cecil Rothwell & Margery Helen Rothwell of Tamworth, Staffordshire and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Englefield Green, Surrey.
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