G/18866 Pte Richard Roffe, 7th Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)

Richard Roffe: another of Chailey's forgotten men.

Just over 90 years ago, on February 5th 1917, Private Richard Roffe of The East Kent Regiment was killed in action. He was not a native of Chailey, (he was born in Wittering, Sussex) but according to Soldiers Died in The Great War, he was resident in the village and enlisted at Wansford, Northants.

In its January 1916 issue Chailey Parish Magazine records him within the roll call of local serving men, noting, "Roffe, R". That is the only mention he receives but nevertheless enough, surely, to have warranted the inclusion of his name on the parish war memorial.

Richard Roffe possibly enlisted under the Derby Scheme in late 1915. He was certainly young. At the time of his death he was still four months short of his twentieth birthday.