Richard Sale was born in 1888, in Atherstone [Warwickshire], the son of, Alfred, a solicitor. He was the second of three brothers: his older brother, Alfred, was born in 1880, and his younger, Edward, in 1891. Edward was a Captain in the 10th Gloucestershire Regiment and was sent to France in August 1915, where he was killed in action on 29 Sept. 1915. Richard Sale was educated at The Haugh Packwood Preparatory School in Warwickshire from 1901. From 1911 he studied law. He married Dorothy in October 1913 and was commissioned in the Royal Horse Guards, October 1915. He lived in Orchard Atherstone, Warwickshire.