- See Ronald Crichton’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about Ronald Crichton? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you.
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: R. Crichton
Born: 4 January 1888, Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England
Date of Death: 22 August 1917
Age at death: 29
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Unit, Ship, etc: 5th Battalion
Enlisted:
Rank: Second Lieutenant (Service No: GS/49349)
Decorations: British WW1 Service Medals (British War Medal and Victory Medal and 1915 Star)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Killed in Action (KIA)
Family Details: Son of Mrs Crichton, Edgbaston, Birmingham and late William Crichton
Home Department: Board of Trade – Labour Department (North Western Division)
Civilian Rank:
Cemetery or Memorial: Poelcapelle British Cemetery, Langemark-Poelkapelle (XLI.B.20); Board of Trade War Memorial; Memorial to Staff of the Ministry of Labour; Birmingham Hall of Memory; St Augustine’s Church War Memorial; King Edward’s School Memorial Roll; Crichton family memorial, Lodge Hill Cemetery, Birmingham; Scottish National War Memorial;
Biography:
Ronald Crichton was born on 4 January 1888 in Edgbaston, Warwickshire. He was baptised on 16 January 1888 at St Augustine’s Church. His parents were William Crichton (1839-1915) and Elizabeth Eleanor Edgecombe (1854-1911) who had married in Somerset on 26 July 1883. His father was a wholesale hardware merchant originally from Ayrshire, Scotland but who lived in Edgbaston, Birmingham. His mother was from Keynsham, Somerset. He had three brothers – Henry Thomas Crichton (1884-1968), Gerald Crichton (1886-1915) and John Drummond Crichton (1891-1918) and two sisters Edith Crichton (1889-1982) and Marjory Crichton (1893-1976).
In the 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses, Roland is living his parents and siblings at 18 Rotten Park Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham (which is the same street where fellow Board of Trade man, Percy Joseph Henley also grew up). By 1911, Ronald is 23 and his older brothers Henry and Gerald have both moved away, and Ronald is aged 23 and working as a jeweller’s clerk in Edgbaston. By this time his father William is retired and aged 72 whilst his mother is aged 56. She died later that year in 1911.
Growing up in Edgbaston, Ronald was a pupil at King Edward’s School, a leading independent public school which dates back to 1552. Its former pupils included the author J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) who was a near contemporary of the Crichton family and who also served in WW1 in the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers. Tolkien’s later writing including “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy was hugely influenced by WW1.
Ronald first joined King Edward’s in September 1901 and was awarded a Foundation Scholarship in July 1903.
We know from the King Edward’s School and the Great War website that “at school Ronald was an accomplished athlete. He was Rugby Secretary, 1st XV Captain, Swimming Secretary, Swimming Captain, Senior Athletics Champion and House Swimming Captain, and won rugby, cricket and swimming colours. As a young competitor in July 1902, he set a new School record for the high jump of 4 feet 7 inches. Naturally, he was also a Prefect. As a member of the Debating Society, he took part in the Latin Debate in 1906, and as such he (or, in fact, his character Bipedius Vaccus), received the following biography: ‘[R Bipedius Vaccus] maxime caninissimam oriatonem habuit quae in actis senatus non perscribenda sit.’ “
His brothers were also all former pupils of King Edward’s. Two of them, Gerald and John, were killed in WW1.
Gerald worked as a musician and in December 1907 he took the decision to emigrate to Australia and settled at Galong, New South Wales, where he began to farm. He joined the Commonwealth Expeditionary Force in February 1915, and was killed in action in a Turkish trench during the attack on Lone Pine District, Gallipoli, on 6th August 1915. He is commemorated on the Lone Pine Australian and New Zealand Army Corps Memorial.
John was a student at Christ Church College, Oxford (from January 1910 onwards). On 18 August 1913, aged 21, he embarked on the Minnewaska for New York.
During WW1, in 1914, John enlisted as a Second Lieutenant in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He was wounded three times: first in Gallipoli in August 1915 (in the same month and theatre where his brother Gerald was killed); then on 9 May 1916 at Vimy Ridge, and again in July 1917. He was killed near Frémicourt by shellfire on 22 March 1918, as part of the German offensive ‘Operation Michael’. His battalion “succeeded in inflicting a great many casualties amongst the enemy, but were overwhelmed by a party of German machine gunners that had broken the line to their left flank. As the German numbers were increasing, the decision was taken to withdraw.” He reached the rank of Captain.
All the brothers, were clearly talented and committed individuals. Ronald later joined the Board of Trade working in Manchester at the Juvenile Employment Bureau. He was also an active scoutmaster (which we know from a newspaper article published in Saturday 14 February 1914 in the Manchester City News.
In December 1914, Ronald enlisted as a Private Soldier in the 20th (Service) Battalion (3rd Public Schools), Royal Fusiliers. According to his WW1 medal card he first served in France from 14 November 1915. He was wounded twice, first in April 1916 and again in July 1916. He received a commission in the 5th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant. He was killed on 22 August 1917, having been wounded already while leading his company in an attack on Westhoek.
The action in which Ronald died, took place at the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as the Battle of Passchendaele) and was a large military offensive which helped to advance the British front line up 600 yards in places along a 2 mile front but failed ultimately in other more ambitious objectives. As result of German counter-attack and cold, wet and muddy conditions the offensive lost momentum and the attack was largely a costly failure for the battalions involved including the 5th Royal Warwickshire Regiment which formed part of the 48th (South Midland) Division.
Ronald’s death was reported in the Daily Mail on 5 September 1917.
Ronald is buried in Poelcapelle British Cemetery, near Ypres. The Commonwealth War Graves cemetery was designed by Charles Holden. It was formed after the Armistice with graves brought from smaller cemeteries and surrounding battlefields. There are now 7,479 Commonwealth soldiers from WW1 buried or commemorated at the cemetery. Of these 6,230 are unidentified. Amongst those buried is Private John Condon (1897-1915) of the Royal Irish Regiment who is thought to be the youngest casualty aged 14 killed in battle.
Ronald and his two brothers are also amongst 78 men remembered on the St Augustine’s Church Memorial, Edgbaston (which was officially unveilled on 28 July 1921). The memorial was unveiled by Brigadier-General Sir John Barnsley (1858-1926), a highly respected member of Birmingham civic life whose construction firm built the Council House, Art Gallery and in 1925 the Hall of Memory. His son was Thomas Kenneth “Tea-Cake” Barnsley (1891-1917), a school friend of J.R.R. Tolkien and another former King Edward’s School pupil. You can read more in the Western Front blog “Tolkien’s ‘bitter winnowing’ and the War Memorial at St Augustine’s Church, Edgbaston“.
The brothers are also named on the King Edward’s School Roll of Honour on bronze memorial tablets in the school chapel and in an online virtual memorial. You can read more about the conflict from perspective of King Edward’s School point of view at: https://kes.org.uk/about-us/history-of-the-school/king-edwards-school-great-war. Of 1403, former King Edward School pupils, 243 (including the 3 Crichton brothers) died. Of these 41 were offices and 35 were from other ranks. WW1 (as symbolised by the Board of Trade, King Edward’s School memorial and the St Augustine’s memorial had a tragic impact on middle class families like the Crichton’s.
The brothers are also remembered by Birmingham’s Hall of Memory which was opened in 1925 and built (as mentioned earlier by the Barnsley construction company). Inside the memorial shrine, which was almost entirely entirely constructed by Birmingham craftsmen, there are three Books of Remembrance on display. Ronald’s name is recorded amongst more than 23,500 men who died.
Ronald is also remembered on two Civil Service War Memorials – the Board of Trade and Memorial to Staff of the Ministry of Labour War Memorials. He is also remembered on the Scotland National War Memorial and on his family gravestone at Lodge Hill Cemetery, Birmingham.
Ronald left his estate of £1,386 to his brother Henry, who was ultimately the only brother to survive WW1. Henry also served during WW1 with the Royal Navy on HMS Victorious.
Ronald Crichton and his brothers were part of a generation of young men who were full of potential, full of life, full of vigour, full of plans, full of ambition, wanting all kinds of things in their personal and professional lives and denied that opportunity. In light of the brilliance of fellow King Edward’s School pupil, J.R.R. Tolkien, it is interesting to ponder what might have happened in the lives of Ronald and his brothers if they had survived WW1. “There is uncountable loss there”.
Board of Trade War Memorial 