Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

C names

William Alfred Crowther

by

W. A. Crowther
Service no. K/27519
Stoker 1st Class, Royal Navy, HMS Vanguard.
Died age 19 on 9 July 1917
Son of Mrs. M. Flowerdew (formerly Crowther), of 16 Birds Hill, Railway Side, Letchworth, Herts. Native of Clapham, London.
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial

The Vanguard exploded on 9 July 1917. You can read about it at www.gwpda.org/naval/vanguard.htm.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 William Alfred Crowther lived with his family in 4 rooms at 48 Cottage Grove, London SW4 – his father, George Crowther, 39, a coal porter and his mother, Elizabeth Crowther, 38; his siblings George, 18, a milkman “on round”; William, 15, an errand boy; Alfred Crowther, 13, and Albert Crowther, 10, at school; and the youngest Nellie Crowther, 4. All were born in Clapham, except William who was born in Lambeth.

James Charles Frederick Cross

by

J. C. F. Cross
Service no. 27166
Private, Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment), 13th Batallion; formerly 1875, King’s Royal Rifle Corps
Killed in action on 29 September 1918, age 26
Son of Mrs. G. Cross, of 161 Hartington Road, South Lambeth, London.
Remembered at Vieille-Chapelle New Military Cemetery, Lacouture, France

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

James Charles Frederick Cross, who joined up in St. Paul’s Churchyard, London on 14 September 1914, just over a month after war was declared, survived nearly to the end of the war. He died barely six weeks before the end of hostilities.

Cross’s service file, badly damaged in the Second World War, documents his many movements and transfers, but these are difficult to decipher. I can discern that he was first assigned to the Army Service Corps; that he landed in France on 25 March 1913 and was wounded in action two months later; that in June 1916 he was given 10 days’ detention for neglecting to comply with an order; that he joined the King’s Royal Rifle Corps at Etaples on 22 June; and that he was transferred to the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) later that same month. He seems to have been wounded again, in September and was classed PB (assigned to Permanent Base at Etaples, which must have been a welcome relief to soldiers, almost as good as being sent to “Blighty”). On the 16 October he came down with “ear disease.”

A note in the file tells us that Cross’s body was moved to Vieille-Chapelle. When his mother Georgina signed her name with a mark on Form W.5080 she declared herself a widow. There was no mention of Cross’s half-sister sister Beatrice.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 James Cross lived at 22 Larkhall Lane, London SW4. The family occupied 3 rooms. James’s father Charles Cross, 67, was a milkman from Devon; Georgina Cross, 47, was from Oxfordshire. They had been married for 23 years and had two children. Beatrice Emily Cross, 36, a child of Charles’s first marriage, was a boot saleswoman born in Limehouse. James Charles Frederick Cross was, in 1911, a warehouseman born in Battersea.

Herbert Howard Crocker

by

H. H. Crocker
Service no. 203662
Private, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 1st Battalion
Killed in action age 29 on 7 April 1917
Son of Horace Howard Crocker, of 52 Hoppers Road, Palmer’s Green, London; husband of Edith Maud Crocker, of 13 Tregothnan Road, Clapham, London.
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Information from the 1911 census

Herbert Howard Crocker. Courtesy of Colin Crocker

Herbert Howard Crocker, 23 in 1911, was working as a dairy manager at 2 Myrtle Cottages, Park Road in Hillingdon, Uxbridge, north London. The house had 4 rooms, including kitchen. He and his wife, Edith Maud Crocker, 21, had been married a year and had a one-month-old baby, Evelyn Elsie Crocker, born in the borough of Uxbridge. Herbert was born in Paddington; Edith in Halesworth, Suffolk.

Meanwhile, his parents Horace Howard Crocker and Clara Sophia Crocker were living at 8 Moat Place, Stockwell where Horace was a dairy manager and Clara “assisting in the business”. Their remaining 4 children lived with them.

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 Herbert Crocker (given as Hubert H. Crocker on the transcription of the census) lived at 131 Sugden Road, Battersea with his family. Horace H. Crocker, 40, was a dairy manager born in St Pancras; Clara S. Crocker, 39, was born in Plumstead, Kent. Each of the children on the census was born in a different location: Horace A. Crocker, 17, an electrical engineer, was born in Finsbury Park; Herbert H. Crocker, 13, was born in Paddington; Frank G. Crocker, 8, was born in Brixton; Gerald Crocker, 4, was born in Wanstead, Essex; Bessie P. Crocker, 2, was born in Battersea. Alice M. Alton, 20, born in Battersea, lived in as a general domestic servant.

Abraham Crocker

by

A. Crocker
Service no. 5308
Private, London Regiment, 1st/20th Battalion
Died aged about 33 on 1 October 1916
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Abraham Crocker, from Crewkerne, Somerset, was employed as a carman for a building contractor. He lived at 2 Layham Cottage, Stockwell with his brother, John Crocker, 45, a labourer at a brewery, and his sister-in-law Annie Crocker, 46, also born in Crewkerne. The family lived in 4 rooms. The children of John and Annie Crocker were
Elise Annie Crocker, 13
Mabel Elizabeth Crocker, 12
Gladys Sarah Crocker, 11
Florence Crocker, registered on the 1901 census as 2 months old, does not appear on the 1911 census. The family were then living at 22 Carroun Road. All the children were born in Lambeth.

William Edward Crabb

by

W. Crabb
Service no. M2/150639
Private, Army Service Corps, 618th M.T. Coy.
Died of cerebral malaria (“due to field operations”) on 23 May 1917, aged 39
CWGC: “Son of Richard and Mary Ann Crabb; husband of Alice Beatrice Crabb, of 19 Thorne Rd., South Lambeth, London. Born in London. Served in the South African Campaign.”
Remembered at Morogoro Cemetery, Tanzania

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

William Edward Crabb died on 23 May 1917 in the 15th Stationary Hospital at Morogoro, Tanzania. He had cerebral malaria caused by “field operations.” Crabb’s file offers few details on this, other than to note that he was admitted and that he was dangerously ill and subsequently died.

Malaria is transmitted by infected mosquitos and its presence in sub-Saharan Africa was and is endemic. Only some cases develop into celebral malaria, an acute disease of the brain that is accompanied by high fever and whitening of the retina. The mortality rate is currently between 25 and 50%, probably greater in 1917.

Crabb left a widow and four children, the youngest born in 1915. His pension records have not survived, so we cannot know how the local pension board treated his widow, Alice Beatrice. Crabb had, however, stacked up a number of years in the Army – with previous service in the South African campaign with the Royal Engineers.

An engineer’s fitter in civilian life, Crabb stood only 5 feet 2 inches tall, with a 34½ chest (to which he could add 3½ inches). He weighed under 8½ stone.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 William Edward Crabb, then 32, was working as an engineer’s fitter. He lived with his wife Alice Beatrice Crabb (née Stout), 24, at 44 Union Grove, Clapham, along with their two children, Alice Marie Crabb, 2, and Elsie Amelia Crabb, 1. Crabb was born in Southampton. The family lived in three rooms.