Alfred Cronk (1885-1918)

Post date: Jan 26, 2018 9:4:50 PM

Alfred was baptised on 5th February 1885 and his birth was registered in the first quarter of that year. He was the son of Charles and Ann Cronk who at the 1891 census were living at North Pole Road, Wateringbury with his 3 elder siblings. His father is shown as a carpenter but Alfred, then aged 6, is not recorded as a "scholar" although his elder brother, Ernest, is. Alfred is never mentioned in the Wateringbury School log and is not on its list of old boys who served in the war. Possibly he went to school elsewhere although Wateringbury School was then on Red Hill just down the road from his home.

By the time of the 1901 census his father, Charles, has died and he is living with his widowed mother and elder brother, still at the North Pole; he is now aged 16 and is recorded as an "ordinary agricultural labourer".

At the 1911 census mother and the two sons are still together at North Pole Cottage. The cottage has 6 rooms and they have taken a boarder. His mother had had 8 children altogether, of whom 5 were still alive. Alfred is still a farm labourer. At this time Wateringbury had 3 other Cronk families living here, on Old Road, Red Hill and at Little Canon.

In 1912 Alfred married Ellen Mary Costin. Ellen, 4 years older than Alfred, also came from the North Pole area of the village but she had worked as a live-in servant in Hunton and a live-in "Cook Domestic" in Maidstone. By the time of Alfred's death his wife was living at 16, Bow Terrace, Wateringbury.

We do not know when Alfred joined up but he was listed in January 1917 of village men serving in the armed forces and is shown as serving abroad. Given his absence on earlier lists he was not a professional soldier but was either a volunteer or conscript. Three other Cronks from Wateringbury were serving in January 1917 in the army plus one in the navy.

Alfred had joined the 7th battalion of the Royal Fusiliers which had come to France in July 1916. His service number was 61648. He died on 23rd March 1918, the second day of the 1918 German Spring Offensive. He (and 35,000 others whose bodies were unidentified) are commemorated on The Arras memorial in the Pas de Calais.

His battalion's war diary is available at the National Archives (reference WO95/3119/1). The battalion was located at Ribecourt, some 12 km SW of Cambrai. The diary records inter alia:

11th March 1918: attack by enemy expected daily.

12th March: very heavy gas bombardment.

13th March: large numbers of Officers and men are found to be suffering from effects of gas & are evacuated to hospital.

15th March: total numbers of ORs evacuated suffering from gas-250.

21st March: very heavy tonnage placed along whole front including gas & smoke shells.

22nd March withdrawal commenced.

23rd March: Bn located in METZ SWITCH by 4 a.m. and line held by 4 Cys. Patrols sent out but no enemy encountered. Aeroplanes very active and enemy shell position about 9 a.m. Orders received at 10 a.m. for Bn to withdraw to LECHELL. Cy move as follows- A & B at 11.30. C-12 noon & D 12.30 pm. Distance of 100 ^x between platoons. Move via HAVRINCOURT WOOD-NIEUVIUEL to huts E. of LECHELL. Heavy shelling experienced during the withdrawal & great difficulty experienced in reaching positions. Enemy advance rapidly & rear guard engage them to enable remaining Bn to withdraw. 1st Artists &4th Bn hold line E of TRES & 7th R.F. in support. Reports received that Right Division are falling back rapidly & enemy rapidly advancing towards LECHELL. Very heavy concentrated artillery fire on huts occupied by Batt & present position held by 190th Bde threatened to be cut off. Given the heavy shelling Bn withdraws to ROCGUIGNY-BUS Road & report to Bde. MAJOR R D WHIGHAM D.S.O evacuated suffering from severe shell shock. The Commanding Officer Lt Col E.L.G. L'ESTRANGE wounded by machine gun fire while moving from hut in LECHELLE. Capt J. FORSTER M.C. takes over command of Bn.

7 p.m. Bn ordered to take up a position on high ground in O 30 a (ALBERT map) to fill gap between 47^th Div & right of 19th Bde. Position taken up with left of Bn resting on BUS-LECHELL Rd. Enemy reported to be advancing towards BUS. Intense M.G. fire experienced. Touch could not be established with troops on left. Patrol sent out under 2/Lt ??? to reconnoitre ground but party of enemy encountered in BUS & patrol did not return. Large dumps set on fire all round & enemy very active ???ing towards main road.

The diary contains a summary of headcount as at 30th March 1918 showing 18 officers and 681 Other Ranks as the effective strength, after drafts joining the battalion during March totalling 273 men. During March 6 officers were casualties and 398 O.R.s (4 killed; 40 wounded; 104 missing and approx 250 gassed). It is likely that many recorded as missing were dead and some of the gassed never recovered.