3/6500 Cpl
1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, 76 Infantry Brigade, 3 Division
Age: 41
Date of Death: Died of Wounds 4.5.15
Buried: La Clytte Military Cemetery I.D.12
Family history: Son of the late George Crichton of Aberdeen. Husband of Margaret McKellop Crichton, 181 Grahams Road, Falkirk. They had six children the youngest being only seven weeks old. He was employed as a Furnaceman by Falkirk Iron Company. He had served for 12 years with the 2/Gordons in India and the Boer War in South Africa, receiving the King’s South African medal with two clasps. He rejoined the reserve battalion before being posted to the 1st Battalion.
The action leading to his death
The battalion were in the trenches in front of Vierstraat.
(Linesman map)
His company commander Lieutenant George Macdonald wrote to his wife that:
‘I have to inform you that your husband was killed in action on 3 May. His death was caused by the bursting of a shell in the trench which we were occupying. He was immediately rendered unconscious, and could not have suffered any pain.’
According to his Army Form B.103, Casualty Form - Active Service he received a gun shot wound to the head sustained on 3 May 1915, and he died of this wound at the Dressing Station at La Clytte. He is buried in La Clytte Military Cemetery.
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