Lieutenant-Commander Richard John Hammersley Ryan, GC (23 July 1903 – 21 September 1940) was a Royal Navy officer who was posthumously awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

along with Chief Petty Officer Reginald Vincent Ellingworth for the "great gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty" they displayed while attempting to defuse a mine which had fallen on

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

in Essex on 21 September 1940.

Early life and career

Ryan was from a naval family, the son of Admiral Frank Edward Cavendish Ryan. He joined the Royal Navy in the early 1920s, was promoted to lieutenant in 1925, and lieutenant commander on 1 August 1933.

Second World War

The pair had defused many such devices together, and had just successfully defused a device in Hornchurch which was threatening an aerodrome and explosives factory when they were called to Dagenham. The bomb there was hanging from its parachute on a warehouse.Casualty details – Ryan, Richard John Hammersley
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 13 February 2008 Notice of the award appeared in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

'' of 20 December 1940:The George Cross at Sea, 1939–45
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Richard John Hammersley 1940 deaths Deaths by German airstrikes during The Blitz Royal Navy personnel killed in World War II British recipients of the George Cross Royal Navy recipients of the George Cross Royal Navy officers of World War II Bomb disposal personnel 1903 births People from Rotherham Military personnel from South Yorkshire