Bradford historian fights to get Major's name listed with war dead

Among these were two very special ones, private memorials, to Major James Grimshaw Crossley, who died in May 1916, recorded as being ‘Late of the 16th (S) Bn West Yorks Regt’, and a Captain ARG (Gordon) Crossley, West Yorks Regt who died in March 1919.

Both graves were overgrown. Capt Crossley’s had an additional CWGC grave marker. I was also sent a cutting of an obituary and photograph for Major Crossley.

However, I already knew who these soldiers were. James Crossley was a founding officer with the 1st Bradford Pals in September 1914. Gordon Crossley also served with the Bradford Pals! Moreover, as their close proximity, surname and dates might suggest - they were father and son!

Major James Crossley, a native of Bradford, had a long military history serving with the 12th Lancers and 6th Mounted Lancashire Infantry, he’d been decorated for his service in Egypt, 20 years previously. Living now in Shipley, he was involved with the Church Lads Brigade, Shipley Volunteer Corps and St Peter’s Church.

I looked them both up on the CWGC database. Capt AR Gordon Crossley was easy to find, but there was no sign of his father. He died in 1916 - why wasn’t he listed? Time to look more deeply into Major Crossley’s story...

Major James Crossley (Image: Submitted)

He was 60 and retired in August 1914 when war broke out. He volunteered his services to Col GH Muller of the Bradford Battalion, knowing he was be too old to serve abroad, but his military experience would be invaluable in training the fledgling battalion. He became second in command and set to! Despite his age, Major Crossley went to Raikeswood Camp with the 1st Bradford Pals for winter 1914-15. The harsh conditions took their toll of many there, including Major Crossley. In spring 1915, it was thought better that Crossley return to the city to take over similar duties with the newly-formed 2nd Bradford Pals battalion based at Bowling Park. His friendly demeanour made him a favourite with the other ranks, he became a father figure to the young soldiers of both Bradford Pals battalions.

Bradford Pals at Raikeswood Camp near Skipton (Image: Submitted)

In August 1915, both battalions were ready to move south to become part of the 31st Division. Col Muller and Major Crossley didn’t go with them. There was a parade in Bradford to say a formal goodbye. Both officers were transferred to the 20th Bn West Yorks. Regt - Bradford Reserve battalion, based at Colsterdale Camp where they joined the 19th Bn West Yorks, the Leeds Reserve battalion. Such battalions would be used to train men as replacements for the Pals and other battalions of the West Yorks Regiment. Conditions at Colsterdale Camp that autumn/winter were dreadful. As a result, the battalions were moved to Clipstone Camp, Nottinghamshire. Major Crossley’s health had now deteriorated to an extent that in March 1916 he was forced to relinquish his duties. He was seriously ill, and died at his home on May 23 in the presence of his son, Gordon. He was buried at Hirst Wood cemetery.

Major James Crossley's grave at Hirst Wood cemetery (Image: Submitted)

Major Crossley had given every last effort in his final years to both battalions of the Pals. Perhaps it was a mercy that he did not witness the destruction of both his Bradford Pals battalions just weeks later at Serre on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1 1916. Perhaps too, it was a mercy he had not witnessed the death of his son from his own war service in 1919.

I thought that, given Major Crossley’s part with the Bradford Pals, he deserved far better than an untidy and deteriorating grave at Hirst Wood. His son was an official ‘war casualty’ - he had a Commission marker, his grave would be cared for.

Maybe I could report this situation to the CWGC as a potential ‘non-commemoration’. I had done this before for 18-year-old Pte Edgar Wrathall of Wibsey, killed in France in 1918 - he is now formally commemorated by the CWGC and is awaiting for his name to be added to a Memorial to the Missing on the Somme. Major Crossley, at 62, with no active service in France, to die of an illness in England, would be a different matter. Surely he should have been properly commemorated at the time. Indeed, why hadn’t he been?

CWGC plaque at grave of Captain ARG Crossley (Image: Submitted)

Whatever might have happened a century ago, at least I give could give Major Crossley my best effort to try to have him officially commemorated. I sent for a copy of his death certificate. The CWGC have strict guidelines regarding assessment for what constitutes a war casualty: ‘The death occurred during the official war period and was the result of: a) wounds inflicted or accident occurring during active service; b) disease contracted or commencing while on active service; or c) disease aggravated by active service’.

I had to go for (b) or (c). Major Crossley’s death certificate arrived, he had died of cancer. My heart sank, it would be difficult to argue a case for (b). I would have to try for (c), difficult to prove, but I wasn’t about to give up.

Major Crossley’s living conditions, in the winter of 1915-16 at the camps, might have been worsened his condition. I had to determine whether any other soldiers living in the same conditions that winter had also died. I went to the West Yorks Regimental History and found a list of of men in the 19th and 20th battalions (Leeds and Bradford Reserve Battalions) at Colsterdale/Clipstone Camps. I put the names through the CWGC database; two checked out for the right dates, one from Bradford, one from Pudsey. But their details were incorrect on the database! Both assigned to the wrong battalions.

I had to submit their cases, with documentation, to have the details corrected, and within weeks the two local soldiers were now correctly assigned by the CWGC to the 19th and 20th battalions West Yorks. They died in similar circumstances and in the same unit looked after by Major Crossley.

But now I had something else - one of these ‘commemorated’ soldiers in training had died of epilepsy; ‘aggravated by active service’. I could now build my case for Major Crossley; that a soldier who died under similar circumstances at the same location was commemorated a ‘war casualty’. I ended my submission citing Major Crossley’s dedication over his final 18 months to the Bradford Pals battalions, and asking to afford him the same honour as both his son and the hundreds of his men of the Pals who fell at the Somme and later actions. To them, Major Crossley, had been a father figure. I submitted the case, it was formally acknowledged by the CWGC. All I could do now was wait...

The long wait would last a year, I received the Joint Services Board/CWGC response only last week:

‘I am writing with an update concerning your Non-Commemoration case submission, pertaining to Major James Grimshaw Crossley of the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own). I am pleased to share that this casualty was accepted for commemoration at a recent Adjudication Board with the relevant military service authority’.

I could read no more. No one saw the tears uncontrollably now running down my cheeks. Had someone been there, they would have seen eyes simply staring into space, at a memory from long ago. A little boy, brought up by his grandparents, taken down to the local club in Dudley Hill for them to play dominoes. The little boy, bored, wandered off through the thick smoke-filled atmosphere to a couple of tables, set apart. At the table were a group of very old, bespectacled men. The boy went up to say ‘Hello’. The old men welcomed the boy, made room for him at their table, talked, laughed and joked with him, tousled his hair until his embarrassed grandmother led him away.

The boy turned and waved, every one of the old men smiled and waved back. Walking home, the boy asked his grandfather who these old men were and why did they sit apart? His grandfather answered: “They are members of the Bradford Pals, they are remembering their friends. Only they understand.”

The grandfather said no more. It would be many years before the little boy, now a young man, learned just who the ‘Bradford Pals’ were and their tragic story - and that night, dedicated his life to preserving their memory.

Major Crossley’s grave, like his son’s nearby, will now be cared for in perpetuity by the CWGC. His name can be listed alongside the ‘fallen’ of the Bradford Pals. There is no official distinction between ‘war casualties’ - Major James Grimshaw Crossley has joined his Pals.

l David P Whithorn is president of Bus to Bradford, which researches and commemorates Bradford men who served and died in the First World War.