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Gnr. Frank Edward Cranton
British Army 127th Heavy Bty. Royal Garrison Artillery
Frank Cranton was a gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery, 187/ 291240. He was awarded the Victory and British Medals for Service in the Great War.
The following notes are a summary of events taken from Frank's Great War notebook kept by my father until his death and then passed onto me. The front cover of the thin notebook notes his service number as 187 (crossed out) and replaced with 291240. His rank as Gunner F. Cranton of the 127th Bristol Heavy Battery, RGA (Royal Garrison Artillery). If found return address of his father's abode in Brixton. This is quite sad as he must have written this thinking that if anything happened to him his notebook would at least be returned to his father.
Initially, he had problems getting the GWR to release him but he eventually signed up on 17th April 1915 at Ashton Gate Bristol about 15 miles from where he was working as a railway porter at Mells Rd on the Somerset and Dorset line. Basic training was given at Cleadon Meadows in August 1915. His notebook then gave his weight from when he was enlisted until 1917. He went from 11 stone 4lbs to 14 stone, so food couldn't have been too scarce.
On 19th April 1916 after a year of training his battery was moved to Bordon Camp, south of Basingstoke, pending transfer to France. He sailed from Southhampton to Le Havre in May 1916 followed by a 22-hour train journey to Nieppe (NW of Armentieres). On 31st May 1916 he was attached to the Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport Division. Frank was returned to his battery on 7th August 1916.
On 24th August 1916 his battery was transferred to the Somme but Frank was left behind, being attached to 9th Corps HA HQ at Locre Chateaux on 6th September 1916. My understanding for the reason why Frank was kept back from the front and assigned to HQ was his understanding of shorthand which he had learnt on the railway. This was probably a fairly unique skill for a male and found to be useful for message taking. He was temporarily assigned to 49th HA at Nieppe from 28th Oct 1916 but returned to 9th Corps on 4th November 1916.
On 7th June at 3.10am Frank witnessed the Battle of Messines Ridge. His notebook reads "Seen, Felt & heard by me." If Frank was still at Locre, the battle was a good 10km away.
His brother, Arch, walked from Ypres where he was based to see Frank on 10th September 1917, a distance of about 12km. Frank walked half the distance back with him later in the day.
