246319 Cpl. Bertie Henry Crick British Army 7th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment from:Walsall (d.17th Jul 1917) Bertie Crick was born in Wolverhampton on Sunday 13th April to John Henry Crick and Bertha Crick (nee Harrison, at 58 Russel Street, his father having moved to the town as a baker and confectioner. He moved to Green Lane Walsall then to 66 Orlando Street, Caldmore, Walsall, where he met my grandmother Edith Sarah Meek (Kettledon). They were married at St Michael's Parish Church on Friday 26th December 1913 and they resided at 32 Orlando Street. They had two children, Lillian and Alice Dorothy Maud Crick, my mother.
Bertie enlisted in Kitchener's New Army at the outbreak of WW1 in 1914 and was drafted to Gallipoli on Saturday 11th of September 1915, until he was withdrawn with the British Expeditionary Force from the Gallipoli Peninsula in December 1915. He served in Egypt before being drafted to France where he was made corporal on Saturday 24th February 1917.
On Sunday 15th pf July 1917, the battalion moved from Camp O near Poperinghe, into the trenches about a mile North of Ypres, relieving the 4/5th Battalion of the Black Watch. This action preceded the Third Battle of Ypres also known as Passchendaele on 31st of July. This sector was described in the regimental history as one of the worst on the whole of the Western Front. The Battalion suffered losses from snipers and as such, regular patrols were sent out to find them and kill them. Casualties were also caused by enemy artillery shells. He was wounded in the trenches most probably by shell fire or sniper fire. Bertie succumbed to his injuries the same day, 17th July 1917, aged just 27 years. He is buried, where he fell, in St Jan La Brique Military Cemetery No 2 and is commemorated in the Roll of Honour at the Menin Gate memorial, and Walsall Town Hall and St. Matthew's Church, Walsall.
His widow Edith remarried Sgt. Joseph Booth Gretton from Penkridge, Staffs in 1919 and had two children Jack & June. Unfortunately, I have no photos or medals for Bertie as these have been lost in the mists of time, but maybe they will turn up in the future, who knows.
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