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Remembered Today:

Black Watch Officer Casualties 1914 - Background


Nick1914

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Dear All, if anyone can help me finding info on the below officer casualties who appear "resistant" to any number of internet searches including the Times and Gale Newspaper, London Gazette, Harts Army List etc sources.  I will give what I have and particular info I would like to find.

 

1)  Captain Axel Douglas Campbell-Krook(MC) - 1st Bn went out with initial BEF.  Commissioned via Milita in 1901, PoW at Gheluvelt on 29th Oct 1914.  Prisoner in Crefeld, Holzminden and Heidelberg and released in 1918(was this via internment in Holland - dates?).  Post-war Commission to Poland. Then this is where it gets interesting....... in 1922 his wife(married in 1908) took court action to "restore conjugal rights" as reported in The Times Apr 27th 1922.  After this he seems to disappear off the radar.  Date of death particular interesting as I am collecting data to seem long PoW captivity had any effect on post-war longevity? Anything on his pre-military background also useful.

 

2) 2nd Lt Kenneth Stewart MacRae(MC) -1893-1960 - 1st Bn went out with initial BEF - SR new commission in June 1914.  Wounded  Langemarck/Pilckem - 24th Oct 1914.  Early background/school?

 

3) Lt James Alfred Durie(MC) - 2nd Bn/Regular, commissioned in 1909 on leaving Cambridge(Emmanuel college). Went to France from India with 2nd Bn BW on SS Elephanta from Karachi to Marseilles arriving mid-October 1914 as part of Meerut Division and initially on RTO duties. Invalided/sick 13th Nov 1914 at Neuve Chapelle. I have nothing on JAD regarding birth/death dates school etc.  What happened next in his WW1 career?

 

I have a few more names but better to provide full details first so members are not wasting time looking for what I may have already.

 

Anything eagerly awaited!

 

Best, Nick

 

 

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1 hour ago, Nick1914 said:

2nd Lt Kenneth Stewart MacRae(

FMP Newspapers has these 2 post-war hits that might give a clue ?

image.png.1a3fc5ca28cd78d2147c061bcdc21434.png

Charlie

MacRaeKS BlackWatch FMPnewspapers.JPG

 

Other FMP hits to give background

          5aa2771eaf328_MacRaeKSBlackWatchFMPhits.JPG.6a75e5a0dc2b18d77d8c6bd7c476571a.JPG

 

Officers Service Record

       

First name(s) Kenneth Stuart
Last name MacRae
Birth year 1892
Birth date ? ? 1892
Rank Captain
Regiment The Black Watch (Depot)
Service years 1912-14
Series description Wo 76 - Regimental Records Of Officers' Services 1775-1914
Title The Highland Brigade
Piece scope The Black Watch (Depot): records of officers' service. (Described at item level)
Date of piece 1903 - 1918
Piece number 430
Item date 1912-1914
Archive The National Archives
Edited by charlie962
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1 hour ago, Nick1914 said:

) Lt James Alfred Durie(MC)

Good little snippet here gives address. I thought they had enough plum pudding ( or was it plum jam) per Old Bill ?

                 

DurieJA PlumPuddings.JPG

 

You know he won the MC late 1916

 

Here are some FMP hits that give you info on later life ?

            5aa27b5378b7a_DurieJAFMPHits.JPG.3529989e6e18046056a8a079581d22a3.JPG

 

On those postwar items he is referred to as 'Major'

 

Died Surrey 1982

 

This in March 1939  5aa27ee16f87d_DurieJAMarch1939.JPG.0e34f832c1898454837773b032cbce65.JPG

 

His MIC says also  Capt a/LtCol 7th A&SH

 

 

 

 

Edited by charlie962
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Have you seen the bit in the St Andrews Citizen of 1900 about 2 Lt A D Campbell-Krook of 6 Lancashire Fusiliers serving in South Africa?

Also he was the adjutant of 4 (Dundee) Black Watch up to about 1913.

I still have a lot of newspaper references to go through.

 

RM

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Axel Douglas Campbell Krook married either Murielle J Kephala or Dorothy E Causbrook in Paris 1931-1935 (British Armed Forces And Overseas Banns And Marriages -findmypast)

 

RM

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31 minutes ago, rolt968 said:

adjutant of 4 (Dundee) Black Watch

There's a newspaper photo of him in the Dundee Evening Telegraph 15/7/1912 as Adjutant

 

There is also this useful summary in Dundee Peoples Journal 1914 (thanks to FindmyPast)

              5aa284ae3f273_CampbellKrooknewspaper.JPG.ead5f2e1b2e0a4376ee46d75572b02f3.JPG

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Probate Register, England and Wales (ancestry)

Krook, Axel Douglas Campbell of Via Verde, Lido de Camaiore, Camaiore, Italy. Died 12 September 1958. Probate London 29 October to Murielle Jean Annette Campbell Krook, widow. Effects in England £200 1s 6d.

RM

 

Edit: Living in Paddington with wife in 1945. (electoral register - ancestry)

 

Edit 2: MC London Gazette 30 Jan 1920 (Fold3)

Edited by rolt968
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Skipman's post leads to (inter alia)

            5aa2866d4e2ec_CampbellKrookICRC.JPG.7bd3938649ba6d7d9406731c8e8536a8.JPG

 

Some FMP Hits here

            5aa287fcd9c08_CampbellKrookFMPhits.JPG.460712b9d367aaaaca88ddcdb6cc5205.JPG

 

Officers Services Record here

First name(s) A D C
Last name Krook
Birth year -
Rank Captain
Regiment 42nd Royal Highlanders (1st Battalion Black Watch)
Service years 1914-17
Series description Wo 76 - Regimental Records Of Officers' Services 1775-1914
Title The Highland Brigade
Piece scope 42nd Royal Highlanders (1st Battalion Black Watch): records of officers' service. (Described at item level)
Date of piece 1914 - 1918
Piece number 425
Item date 1914-1917
Archive The National Archives
Edited by charlie962
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3 minutes ago, Skipman said:

I think it's Alex (not Axel)

looking at the FMP hits for birth etc (above) it seems its Axel not Alex ?!

Charlie

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24 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

looking at the FMP hits for birth etc (above) it seems its Axel not Alex ?!

Charlie

His father was Max Hendrik Krook (born?) certainly baptised in Stockholm.

RM

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His name is on a couple of lists which come from other men's records in fmp. I will transcribe the relevant sections asap. (Feeling the need for lunch!) One lists looks like those arriving at or leaving a school of instruction in 1919. The other looks like a page from a brief log of what happened to BW officers during WW1.

 

RM

Edited by rolt968
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Dear Charlie, Rolt and Skipman, many thanks for your very splendid efforts - really appreciated.  Attached is the Times article which prompted my interest.

 

Just looked up the Wavell connection as I read his biography only last year "Wavell - Soldier Statesman" by Victoria Schofield(a very good read).  Apparently 2nd BW were part of the Army of the Rhine occupying force based at a former German barracks in Marienburg(Cologne).  Wavell was 2nd i/c to Arthur Wauchope a 2x wounded WW1 veteran.  So Krook should have known Wavell quite well.  2nd BW were then sent to Silesia to oversee a plebiscite mandated by the Treaty of Versailles but Wavell stayed in Germany with a recently suffered skiing injury!

 

....it's amazing where a name leads you!

 

 

 

 

Screen Shot 2018-03-09 at 14.21.05.png

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Dear RM, just looked up the ICRC reference above (which has alluded me for a long time).......the "reply to" address on the card to inform families of PoWs is an individual in Copenhagen.  Were his ancestors perhaps Danish rather than Swedish?

 

Best, Nick

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....found this photo on the internet from the 1st Bn BW BEF.  Campbell-Krook is last officer on the right(facing) I believe.

IMG_0059.jpg

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3 hours ago, Nick1914 said:

found this photo on the interne

and KS MacRae at the back.

5 hours ago, rolt968 said:

school of instruction in 1919

This was Senior Officers School, Aldershott

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4 hours ago, Nick1914 said:

Dear RM, just looked up the ICRC reference above (which has alluded me for a long time).......the "reply to" address on the card to inform families of PoWs is an individual in Copenhagen.  Were his ancestors perhaps Danish rather than Swedish?

 

Best, Nick

His father was certainly born in Stockholm. (29 March 1838).

RM

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11 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

and KS MacRae at the back.

This was Senior Officers School, Aldershott

Thank you:

“The following officers who were detailed on the War Office Special List, having completed a course at this school and proceeded on leave, with effect from 23.3.1919, pending receipt of disposal instructions:-

Captain Crook, A.D.C., Black Watch”(about the middle of the list) (findmypast)

RM

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This is the other:

 

Captain A.D.C. Krook

Embarked 13.8.14, With B’n.; MISSING 29.10.14.; Prisoner of War (unwounded); at Stralound, Danholm(?), Pommern, 5.11.14,WO ar(?) u/o No. 74 List N(?)23298.; Transferred from Crefeld to Schwarn(?)stedt, Germany; (List No. pm 228 ar(?) 6/10/17). (findmypast)

RM

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He had homes in Abernyte, Perthshire and Long Wittenham, Berkshire (county directories - ancestry)

May or may not have sailed for India from London on 29 March 1913 on the Borneo (entry is crossed out) (ancestry)

RM

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