Simpson, Richard Lawrence
Dates
- Existence: 28 May 1912 - 30 June 1944
Biography
Richard Lawrence Simpson was born in Christchurch on 28 May 1912, the son of Cameta Limbrick and her husband Herbert Massey Simpson, a traveller of Burnside Road (Memorial Avenue).
He joined the R.N.Z.N.V.T. and left New Zealand as a civilian in 1941. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant and saw action in the Atlantic where his destroyer HMS Stork sank a German submarine.
When coming home on leave in June 1944, Lawrie's ship was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean. Lawrie and two other New Zealand lieutenants, Geoffrey Rowan and Ewan Cameron, left the ship in a lifeboat but nothing more was heard of them.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Richard Lawrence Simpson papers
The papers of Richard Lawrence Simpson largely includes correspondence with his wife during his World War II service on a range of personal subjects with reference to life during wartime service.
Also includes journal pages and further correspondence relating to life whilst training during World War II; Simpson's birth certificate; newspaper clippings relating to recruitment for the Navy and some financial papers including reciepts.