Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hello to our Military Boffins.
No more info from CWGC, death 1/9/1918
Service No. 12259 Private
H.A.C Cemetery Ecoust-St.Mein

Would like help to identify J Crosbie.
Tall order I know.
Any help greatly appreciated.

Tina

Tina
Just torn myself away from the Test Match - tea break for them - to find that CWGC give Crosbie's battalion as 13th, not 10th. Otherwise not much available to me, though someone might look up his medal index card on Anc..., and look for his army papers, if they survived.
D

Test match? is that something to do with sports? Oh well, back to business!

From Ancestry, the source of this entry is "Soldiers died in the Great War 1914 - 1919"
Name: John Crosbie
Birth Place: Bootle, Liverpool
Residence: Seaforth, Lancashire
Death date: 1 September 1918
Enlistment Location : Bootle
Rank: Private
Regiment: King's (Liverpool Regiment)
Battalion: 13th Battalion
Number: 12259
Type of Casualty: Killed in Action
Theater of War: Aldershot

In case it's not the J Crosbie you are interested in, there is another

Name: John Blair Crosbie
Birth Place: Liverpool
Residence: Liverpool
Death date: 19 May 1918
Enlistment Location : Liverpool
Rank: Private
Regiment: Royal Army Service Corps
Number: T/220401
Type of Casualty: Died of wounds
Theater of War: Aldershot

and
Name: Joseph Crosbie
Birth Place: Newport, Monmouthshire
Residence: Liverpool
Death date: 18 June 1918
Rank: L/Corporal
Regiment: Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
Battalion: 2nd Battalion
Number: 9991
Type of Casualty: Died
Theater of War: Belgium

If you think the first one is your man, then his Medal Roll says

Campaign 1914-15
John Crosbie
Corps: Liverpool R
Rank: Private
Reg No: 12259
Roll on which included, if any: H/2/2B/114
Medal Roll Page
Victory H/2/102B6 537 Deceased
British " "
Theatre of War: France
Qualifying Date: 19.5.15

Let me know if you want the image

Sorry he wasn't in the list of Service Records.

Thanks Daggers and Mary, sorry about incorrect Battalion.

Thanks again Mary for all your research and pointers.
Very grateful.

Tina

Here's a bit from the Long, Long Trail website:

"13th (Service) Battalion
Formed at Seaforth in September 1914 as part of K3 and attached as Army Troops to 25th Division.
February 1915 : transferred to 76th Brigade in same Division.
27 September 1915 : landed at Le Havre.
15 October 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 3rd Division.
23 October 1915 : transferred to 8th Brigade in same Division.
4 April 1916 : transferred to 9th Brigade in same Division."

From this it may be possible to work out more of the Battalion's movements, but I need breakfast first! K3 is Kitchener's third wave of recruitment.
D

Source: "The British Armies in France & Flanders 1914-1918" by EA James.

The 3rd Division [which included 13th Bn KLR] was part of VI Corps which in turn was part of Third Army during the phase of the war known as 'The Advance to Victory 1918'.
Within that phase, the Second Battles of the Somme were fought between 21 August and 3 September. One of these Battles was the Second Battle of Bapaume, 31dst Aug - 3rd Sept.
More in a little while.
D

Notes taken from the CWGC website:
Ecouste St Mein is a village between Arras, Cambrai & Bapaume; the cemetery is 800 metres S of village, on west side of D956 road to Beugenatre. Plot 1, Row C was made in Aug/Sep 1918 when the ground was recaptured by 3rd Division after 5 months enemy occupation. This part of the cemetery is close to the Great Cross.
The cemetery was much expanded after 1918 when other sites were cleared.

More details of the cemetery can be had from the CWGC Debt of Honour website: use the 'search' for Crosbie, J, select the one who was in the King's Liverpool; on his page, at the foot click on cemetery details, and again for a plan of the site. Plot 1, Row C is near the bottom right hand corner.
D

The battalion had suffered heavily in the Battle of Albert (12st - 23rd August) with 7 officers and 263 other ranks casualties.

Despite this, they were in action again on 31st August when they took part in the attack on Ecoust. The attack was successful but incurred further hevay casualties, some 9 officers and 200 other ranks.

Ive just noticed that MaryA's quote from 'Soldiers Died' has the error perpetrated by Anc... in their transcription from the originals. The theatre of war where Crosbie [and many others] died was NOT Aldershot but France & Flanders.
D

Thank you
sjn,daggers, Mary for wonderful information.
Aldershot appears a lot in Anc# in their records.
Your time and replies are very much appreciated.

Tina

Unfortunately the entry with Aldershot as "Theater" of War was one of those transcript only things, couldn't see the original document, so sorry, you only got what was available to me, will try to do better next time