Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1917

Arthur Stephen Crumpler

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A. S. Crumpler
Service no. SS/112057
Leading Stoker, Royal Navy, H.M.S. Cornwallis
Died on 9 January 1917, aged 22
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent
Crumpler was one of 15 men who died when the Cornwallis was torpedoed by the German U-boat (U-32) off Malta. He had previously survived the sinking of the Cressy, which went down in the North Sea in less than 30 minutes on 22 September 1914, after an atttack by the U-boat U-9.

Information from the 1911 census

In civilian life, Crumpler was a plumber’s mate working in the building trade. One of five children, he was born in Charminster, Dorset. In 1911, he lived with his family in five rooms at 41 Dorset Road, Stockwell. Crumpler’s widowed mother, Mary Ann, was a newsagent and tobacconist, from Martinstown, Dorset.

William Alfred Crowther

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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.

Herbert Howard Crocker

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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.

William Edward Crabb

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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.