Richard Thistlethwaite was listed as A. Thistlethwaite in the Accrington Observer as going to Caernarvon with the Chorley Pals in February 1915 but as R. Thistlethwaite on the scroll in Astley Hall. Sometime during 1915 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps with a serial number of 135142, going abroad with them on the 10th December that year; he ended the war with the rank of Acting Sergeant.
Richard was born in Wrightington on the 5th November 1885, being the eldest of eight children born to Ann and Charles Thistlethwaite. In 1911 he was working as a Loom Tackler in a Cotton Mill and living at Pemberton House Farm in Charnock Richard. By the time he enlisted with the Pals he was working as a Coal Miner, possibly at near-by Welch Whittle Colliery.