Ralph Munday

Ralph Munday was born on 26 November 1885 in Surbiton, Surrey, the only son of John and Catherine Munday. He had four siblings: Nora Katie Munday, Kathleen Munday, Mildred Mary Munday, and Margery Munday.

He was educated at Bilton Grange Preparatory School, Crowthorne, Berkshire and Wellington College.

He was a Solicitors Clerk in 1911.

During the war, he served with the 9th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiment. In 1915 he underwent training in Cairo and was appointed to a temporary commission on 27 October 1915 \cite{RMundayWar} as recorded in the London Gazette: "Appointed to a commission in 9th Battalion Notts and Derby Regt. (Sherwood Foresters) Authority General Ord. Force in Egypt No 701, 23 October 1915". He later became a Captain. He served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front in the First World War. He was awarded the Military Cross on 3 June 1918. He was then with a POW convoy and was demobilised on 22 August 1919.

A letter that he wrote to his sister Kathleen (held by a family member), in 1915, reads as follows:

A postcard from Ralph's father, John Hill Munday, to his sister Catherine (Mrs James Denton Barker), written on 3 January 1918 (held by a family member) reads:

Before the War Ralph had worked as an articled clerk for his father but in 1919, following his father's death, he did not return to work in the law but emigrated to Western Australia. There he managed a business related to the motor trade, but that did not prosper and he worked for a while on a farm on the Wheatbelt. Then he went to Java, where he managed a export company owned by brother-in-law Charles Hadden. He married Vera Maunder in Java, and they adopted one daughter, Julia Leat. They moved back to Western Australia in 1939 and lived on Forrest Street, Cottesloe.

During the Second World War he worked in the Ministry of Munitions in Perth, and later, in retirement, he had a strong interest in growing orchids and kept tropical fish.

He died in 1962.