- See Allan Mosscrop’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 Allan Mosscrop? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: A. Mosscrop MC
Born: 28 September 1895, Bolton, Lancashire, England
Date of Death: 11 September 1917
Age at death: 22
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
Unit, Ship, etc: 9th Battalion
Enlisted: October 1914
Rank: Second Lieutenant (Service No: 17959)
Decorations: WW1 Service Medals (Victory Medal and British War Medal) and Military Cross
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Died of Wounds (DOW) sustained in action on 10 September 1917
Family Details: Son of John Mosscrop (lithographic printer) and Annie L Mosscrop, 261 Great Western Street, Moss Side, Manchester, England
Residence: Moss Side, Manchester, England
Home Department: Board of Trade – Labour Department (Salford Labour Exchange, North Western Division)
Civilian Rank: Clerk
Cemetery or Memorial: The Huts Cemetery, Ypres (V.A.17); Board of Trade War Memorial; Memorial to Staff of the Ministry of Labour, Caxton House, Tothill Street, London; De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour; Manchester Cenotaph
Biography:
Allan was born on 28 September 1895 in Bolton, Lancashire. His parents were John Mosscrop (1864-1933) and his mother was Annie Law Knight (1865-1927). He had four siblings – Stuart Mosscrop (1898-1948), Marjorie Mosscrop (1900-1998), Jack Mosscrop (1903-1938) and Jessie Mosscrop (1906-?).
In the 1901 census, the Mosscrop family are living at 11 Lucknow Gardens, Manchester and Allan is aged 5 years old. His father is working as a lithographic printer. In the 1911 census, the Mosscrop family are living at 9 Kippax Street, Moss Side, Manchester. Allan is working as an apprentice to a tailor cutter.
We also know that Allan was educated at Upper Lloyd Street Board School based in Moss Side. He was later employed at the Salford Labour Exchange (which formed part of the Labour Department at the Board of Trade).
Allan initially enlisted to serve as a Private in WW1 on 2 October 1914 with the 15th (1st Edinburgh) Battalion, Royal Scots Regiment. This battalion was formed in September 1914 with half the recruits from Edinburgh and another half from Manchester. The battalion was therefore commonly known as the Manchester Scottish.
On his enlistment, Allan Mosscrop was described as a civil servant, 5′ six and a quarter inches tall, with light hair, blue eyes and fresh complexion”. He trained in Edinburgh before moving to Troon, Scotland and then joining the 101st Brigade, 34th Division in Ripon and initially served in England. He was posted to serve overseas in France landing at Le Havre on 8 January 1916, remaining overseas until 6 October 1916. Allan would have fought during this time at the Battle of the Somme. He was then at home again until 28 February 1917 after earning his commission to become an officer.
He returned to France in April 1917 and joined the 9th Battalion, Cameronian (Scottish Rifles) in the field on 3 May 1917. He was reported wounded in action on 10 September 1917 during fighting at Hell’s Fire Corner on the Menin Road. Hellfire Corner was an important transport hub which ran from Ypres to the frontline and was a target and within reach of the German guns and gained the nickname “the most dangerous corner on Earth”.
Allan died of wounds on the following day, 11 September 1917. He was aged just 23 at the time of his death.
Allan was posthumously awarded the Military Cross which was announced in the London Gazette on 8 September 1917. (A Mosscrop, Army Service Record, PRO, WO 339/67164). He was given the award “for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty while in charge of a fighting patrol. The patrol went out in daylight, and crawled through a gap in the enemy wire into an enemy post. After waiting some time two of the enemy arrived to garrison the post. He immediately shot the firs and took the other prisoner. Subsequently a party of about twelve of the enemy tried to advance upon the raided post. The patrol returned successfully with the prisoner under heavy rifle fire. This daring enterprise secured an important identification, and was the result of most patient and audacious scouting”.
Allan is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’sThe Huts Cemetery which is located 6 kilometers south-west of Ypres, Belgium. The cemetery was originally designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and contains 1094 WW1 Commonwealth burials. The cemetery is named after a line of huts that ran along the road from Dickebusch to Brandhoek that were used by field ambulances (and this might explain why the De Ruvigny record mentions Allan as being buried in Dickebusch Military Cemetery).
Allan is also remembered on two Civil Service War Memorials – the Board of Trade War Memorial and the Memorial to the Staff of the Ministry of Labour. He is commemorated by the Manchester Cenotaph which is located by Manchester Town Hall in central Manchester and his life is remembered in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914 – 1918. The is a private list comprising five volumes and biographies of over 26000 men (and 7000 photographs) compiled by the 9th Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval who was interested in genealogical research.
Board of Trade War Memorial 