Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookian, and Japanese forces, on the advance to, and relief of, Tientsin, and in the relief of Sir Edward Seymour's column at Siku (noted for promotion for gallantry; medal with Taku clasp); present with Naval Brigade at the capture of the Peiyang Arsenal, Tientsin, 27 June, 1900 (Relief of Pekin Clasp; 2nd Class Order of the Crown of Prussia with swords); created C.B., 26 June, 1902, and M.V.O. (4th Class), 21 April, 1903, on the occasion of the visit of King Edward VII to Malta; decorated with the Royal Spanish Order of Naval Merit, 1906; awarded Testimonial of the Royal Humane Society for jumping overboard at night in Palmas Bay, Sardinia, 1904, and saving the life of a drowning midshipman; was Flag Capt. to Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker, commanding the cruisers which found and shadowed the Russian Fleet after the Dogger Bank Incident; Naval A.D.C. to His Majesty King Edward VII, 9 Feb. 1909 to 24 Aug. 1910; Rear-Admiral of the Atlantic Fleet (3rd Battle Squadron) Aug. 1911, to Aug. 1912; was at Gibraltar when the P. & O. s.s. Delhi, with the Duke and Duchess of Fife and their daughters on board, stranded off Cape Spartel, on the night of 12 Dec. 1911; received the appreciation of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for "courage and energy displayed" on this occasion, and was created a K.C.V.O. (28 Feb. 1912), and awarded the Silver Medal of the Board of Trade for saving life; Commanding Training Squadron, 1912, to 8 Feb. 1913; appointed Rear-Admiral and Senior Naval Officer, West Atlantic (4th Cruiser Squadron), 8 Feb. 1913; hoisted his flag on H.M.S. Good Hope (Armoured cruiser) after the outbreak of war, and was lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914. The Official report states "During Sunday, 1 Nov. the Good Hope, Monmouth, and Glasgow came up with the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Leipzig, and Dresden. Both squadrons were steaming south in a strong wind and considerable sea. The German squadron declined action until sunset, when the light gave it an important advantage. The action lasted an hour. Early in the action both the Good Hope and the Monmouth took fire, but fought on until nearly dark, when a serious explosion occurred on the Good Hope, and she foundered.... The action appears to the Admiralty to have been most gallantly contested, but in the absence of the Canopus the enemy's preponderance of force was considerable." A Public Memorial was put up in York Minster: another at Dungavel Private Chapel by the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton; a window at Gilling Church by Countess Fitzwilliam, and a tablet at Gilling Church by the Family. He was author of "Sporting Notes in the Far East," "Wrinkles in Seamanship or a help to Salt Horse," "Whispers from the Fleet," etc., etc. He was _unm._ [Illustration: =Sir C. G. F. M. Cradock.=] =CRAGG, GEOFFREY ETHELBERT=, Solicitor, Sergt., No. 1745, 5th Battn. Queen's Royal West Surrey Regt. (T.F.), _s._ of the late Anthony Richard Cragg. Estate Agent to Sir Jeremiah Colman, Gatton Park, of Warleigh, Eversfield Road, Reigate, Surrey, and Author of "Hints to Young Valuers" and many other works, by his wife, Alice Louise, dau. of the late Norcliffe William Glendinning, of Ambleside; _b._ Hereford, 25 Feb. 1888; educ. Hoe Preparatory School and Reigate Grammar School; served his articles with Morrison and Nightingale, of Reigate and Redhill, and was admitted a solicitor in July, 1910. He was appointed Deputy Coroner for East Surrey in 1912, and was probably the youngest Deputy Coroner in the country. He had joined the Royal West Surrey Territorials in 1912, and when war broke out was in training with his regiment on Salisbury Plain. He immediately signed on for the period of the war, and was sent to India with his regt. Cragg was one of those who volunteered for service in the Persian Gulf, when, in Aug. 1915, a call was made for a further draft of men from the 5th Queen's to join the 2nd Norfolks, then in Mesopotamia, and his keenness is shown by the fact that he was willing to revert to the rank of Corpl. in order to go. He took part in the action on 27-28 Sept., and died of dysentery, at Kut-el-Amara, 17 Oct. 1915; _unm._ Col. Brodrick wrote to Mrs. Cragg: "Your son was a splendid fellow. His devotion to duty at all times was wonderful. We shall miss him terribly, but he died, as he would have wished, doing his duty, and the regt. is proud of him." [Illustration: =Geoffrey Ethelbert Cragg.=] =CRAMPTON, CHARLES THEODORE=, Stoker, P.O. 294717, H.M.S. Hawke; lost when that ship was torpedoed in the North Sea, 15 Oct. 1914; _m._ =CRANE, CHARLES EDWARD=, 2nd Lieut., 1st Battn. Duke of Cornwall's L.I., eldest _s._ of Charles Arnold Crane, of The Reddings, Cheltenham, by his wife, Georgina, dau. of the Rev. Thomas Walker, Rector of Abbots Morton, Worcestershire; _b._ Birlingham, co. Worcester, 18 Feb. 1892; educ. Oakfield, Rugby, Cheltenham College, and Sandhurst; gazetted to the 1st Battn. Duke of Cornwall's L.I. 4 Sept. 1912, and served with his regt. in Ireland in the spring of 1914 in connection with the troublous time in Belfast. On the outbreak of war he went with his regt. to the Front, was wounded in the Battle of the Aisne, 14 Sept. 1914, and died from wounds, at Mont de Soissons Farm, four days later, being buried near Mont de Soissons, between the village of Nampteuil-sous-Muret and Serches, 7 miles from Soissons, and 1 mile from Serches, overlooking the Valley of the Aisne; _unm._ His commanding officer, Lieut.-Col. M. N. Turner, in writing to his father, paid a high tribute to his worth and courage: "Your boy was absolutely brave and good. We were all so very fond of him, and he was such an excellent officer. He was absolutely fearless, and one of the best." An officer wrote: "He was hit on 14 Sept, when doing real good, brave work. He did his work before he was hit, and it took a bit of doing. Another good soldier and leader, and another gallant officer! We miss him very much; we all liked him so tremendously." Sergt. Blaclock declared that "He was always to the front in the call of duty, and the men who have had the honour to serve with him at home or on the battlefield will, I am sure, always feel proud of him, and he will always be remembered as one of the bravest and best." And L.-Corpl. J. Horan, 1st Duke of Cornwall's L.I., wrote: "I had the pleasure of serving with your gallant son. All through the famous retreat from Mons it will always live in my memory his kindness to me; that was when we started the advance. He picked me up where I was lying by the road one night and put me in an ambulance wagon, and also another Private; we both owe our lives to him. He was most kind and considerate in all his orders, and would never ask his men to go to any place he would not go himself. We had trying times, especially on 26 Aug., when he took us out of the village Le Chateau. I don't remember him losing any of his platoons. It was a dreadful ordeal, for they were firing upon us in all directions |