Donald Ryder was born on 14th March 1925 at Preston on the Hill, the son of Thomas Ryder and his wife Georgina Gregory (nee Lyall). The father was an estate labourer for Sir Gilbert Greenall at Walton and was from a local family. The mother was from a Scottish family. In 1927 a brother Frank Lyall was born and in 1932, a sister Jean Ann.
In 1926, when Donald was less than a year old, his parents travelled with him on the “Largs Bay”, a ship sailing from London to Melbourne, Australia, with the intention of living permanently there. Thomas Ryder was a blacksmith by then and they had been living on Palmyra Square in Warrington.
Georgina came home to England in 1930 with her two sons, Donald and Frank, to visit family at Ivy Cottage in Preston on the Hill, travelling back to Australia on the “Largs Bay” again. However, in December 1930 they came back to England again on the “Moreton Bay” from Brisbane to Hull. Tom Ryder came home separately and by 1939 the family were living in Preston on the Hill and the father was working as a haulage contractor. All the three children were at school.
At some time during World War Two, Donald joined the Lancashire Fusiliers, but it is not known where he served or for how long.
The family continued to live at Sunny Hill in Preston on the Hill after the war ended.
Sadly, Donald was killed on 11th November 1951 on Chester Road in Daresbury, when his lorry carrying empty milk churns overturned on a bend. Donald Ryder was 26 years old when he passed away and he was buried in Daresbury churchyard, with his parents whom he predeceased.
