Ralph Massey

Bank: National Provincial Bank of England

Place of work: Walsall branch

Died: 17 February 1918

Ralph Massey was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme on 21 November 1898, the son of William Edward Massey, an ironmonger, and his wife Alice. He was educated at Orme Boy's School, Newcastle.

Massey's elder brother William, two years his senior, went to work for National Provincial Bank of England in 1913. Two years later Massey followed in his footsteps, starting as an apprentice at Walsall branch in July 1915, when he was 16 years old. His manager there described him as 'an energetic, willing, intelligent youth.'

In February 1917, 18-year-old Massey joined the army, initially in a training battalion. He travelled to France in January 1918 as a Private in the Durham Light Infantry, and was killed in action there on 17 February 1918. He was 19 years old.