James William Crockson : 4th June 1884 to 27th June 1917

James William Crockson was born^(#1) in the district of St. Olave, Bermondsey, now an area within the London Borough of Southwark.

James married ^(#1) Ellen M O'Connor who was born 1889. The wedding took place in the district of St. Olave, Southwark, London, England.

After James died in 1917, Ellen appears to have remarried ^(#2) a William Barber in 1923 and died ^(#3) as Ellen M Barber in 1960.

The 1st Somerset Light Infantry, along with the 11th Infantry Brigade, departed Colchester Barracks in order to relocate for Harrow where other divisions had already begun to muster from other areas.

Once arrived, the Battalion camped on an incline within the playing fields of Harrow School.

Over the following 3 days, field training and route marching continued on from where it had been previously ceased at Colchester.

At 7pm, The Somerset Light Infantry departed Harrow by train and arrived at Southampton at around 11:30pm.

At between midnight and 1.00am, the Somersets embarked onto the ship, S.S. Braemar Castle and departed Southampton for France (Le Havre) at around 8.30am. The ship was reported as passing the Isle of Wight at approximately 11.00.am.

Conditions on board were described as cramped, with officers sharing three to a cabin. A breakfast of 'Bully beef and biscuit'^#1 was available, as well as lunch.

The conditions for the crossing was reported by a soldier on board as being 'smooth' seas and the weather as 'excellent'.

At 7.00pm, the ship received the French Pilot for Le Havre, but was unable to dock due to low tides, with the pilot making many failed attempts.

The ship finally disembarked at Le Havre between 11.30pm and 00.30am and the regiments on board finally arrived at the 'Rest Camp' at around 4am.

At approximately 2.00am, marched for from Le Harve to get to the rest camp location about 6 miles away. This took around 2.5 hours, mainly marching uphill on what was recorded as a hot August night.

During the day at the camp, the amalgamated Battalions had some rest and undertook numerous camp duties.

At 8.00 pm the Battalions were called to parade and the Colonel read to them the King's message and were told that they would very soon be fighting the enemy. Two hours later they arrived at the railway station where horses, equipment and vehicles were loaded onto wagons by men on fatigue duties. While this was taking place, many of those that were not on duty slept on station platforms etc.

At 02:00am, the Somerset Light Infantry departed Havre Station and for the best part of the next fifteen hours were travelling to Le Cateau. During the very uncomfortable and hot journey, the train stopped at Rouen, where coffee and a small nip of Brandy were offered.

The troops were finally detrained at 5.00pm with new orders given to go to head to the village of Briastre and occupy outposts to the north.

While the above was occurring, the German front-line had managed to gain some foothold in the area. It was initially thought by the troops that they were positioned about 200 miles away, but were in fact new reports coming in while the Battalion was deploying itself, suggest that were in fact less than five miles away and should be prepared for enemy engagement at any second.

The 4th Division (of which the 1st Somerset Light Infantrys were a part) were not fully assembled and very unprepared as the supporting troops of cavalry, engineers, artillery and ammunition had not yet arrived to the area.

At 4.00 am, at very short notice, the Division were order to march to the village of Solesmes and occupy positions to the South.

Later that evening, heavy firing was heard nearby and it was decided to start withdrawing the area. By 5.00pm, vehicles had been withdrawn.

At around 6.00pm, German cavalry were spotted nearby and random shelling started. At around 9.00pm, the Division troops were ordered to withdraw and in several formations, removed from the area by 11.00pm, with new positions taken up to the South of the Viesly area.

James was one of approximately 2600 soldiers captured by the German forces at the Battle of Le Cateau ^{(#1 / #2)} in Nothern France.

James died on 27th June 1917 and was buried in what was then the Szawli (Schaulen) German Cemetery in Russia (now Šiauliai within the Republic of Lithuania).