Sapper EDWARD RICHARD CROSSLAND 459192 Royal Engineers = Very vague date of death

[Matlock1418]

On 11/12/2020 at 19:54, PRC said:

The list of Royal Engineers who were missing that appeared in the War Office & Air Ministry Weekly Casualty dated 23rd July 1918 included:

 

Crossland,

Peter,

Once again my thanks,  Certainly quite a list and for your start is appreciated! - Is winter long enough?

:-) M

Edited 14 December , 2020 by Matlock1418
typo

[Matlock1418]

On 12/12/2020 at 09:49, michaeldr said:

I suspect that the scheme produced temporary gentlemen who were much better at discipline than they were at the paper-work side of the job. Poor or non-existent records result in the sort of thing which you see above.

Michael,

Thanks once again.  Certainly in the second quarter of 1918 the British Army had quite a few urgent things on its mind.

In our household there is a saying - "A drowning man doesn't care which stroke he is using to swim' - Other priority(ies) must commonly dictate.

:-) M

[Guest]

On 14/12/2020 at 09:53, Matlock1418 said:

GUEST,

Thanks.  Yes, even vaguer.

However seems to have spawned its own thread with interesting results.

Perceval's 1915 probate does seem to offer a place and a pretty officially-recognised date for his death as 17 Nov. 1914  [as also found on other medal records - I wonder where originating??]

But that is all another story for the other thread I think.

:-) M

 

    Very much so-  I had come across Perceval when looking for another supposed vague war death of a local man (traced in a Nigerian newspaper of 1917- he was First Mate on a steamer which simply disappeared on a routine trip between Lagos and Old Calabar- as it had been taken up (of sorts) for running war mails, he was classed as a war casualty-as were all the crew-including a fireman simply recorded by CWGC as "Jumbo"). He stuck in my mind as I wondered if he was related to "Singapore" Perceval of the next war.  I hope the info does go across to CWGC for correction- war deaths from Nigeria seem especially vague-I suspect many of those like Perceval can be cracked with the resources available to us now.

    Right-lets get back to the main thread and Crossland !!

[Matlock1418]

Very much so-  I had come across Perceval when looking for another supposed vague war death of a local man ...

...  Right-lets get back to the main thread and Crossland !!

It is always so interesting, and easy, to get carried off into another distraction!

I have too have discovered another man, 4 Aug 1914 - 31 Aug 1921, but ... he must wait.

Yes please - let's see if we can sort Crossland first.

:-) M

[charlie962]

On 12/12/2020 at 15:13, michaeldr said:

Examples would be interesting

Basra War Memorial has a large number of death date ranges. If you list that memorial in date of death order you will get lots of 4/8/14-1921 deaths, particularly for Indian soldiers and followers. If you put in a date range starting 29/6/16 ( the Fall of Kut) you will again get a lot of hits with date ranges of a month, 3 months, 6 months etc for British soldiers, for the reason I mentioned in my previous post.

 

eg:

[michaeldr]

42 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

Basra War Memorial has a large number of death date ranges. If you list that memorial in date of death order you will get lots of 4/8/14-1921 deaths, particularly for Indian soldiers and followers. If you put in a date range starting 29/6/16 ( the Fall of Kut) you will again get a lot of hits with date ranges of a month, 3 months, 6 months etc for British soldiers, for the reason I mentioned in my previous post.

 

Thanks for that follow-up