Pte 300029 George Raymond Craddock

• Age: 30
• From: Birmingham
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• D.O.W Thursday 4th October 1917
• Commemorated at: Bailleul Cc Ext
  Panel Ref: III.E.126

George Raymond Craddock was born 2nd November 1893 at Birmingham and resided in Clapham, London. He was the son of Charles Henry and his wife Sarah Alice (nee Tyzack) who had married in September 1882 at Camberwell, London. George Raymond was admitted to Borough Beaufoy School on the 11th November 1907. (It was a technical school for boys in engineering trades).

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 227, Vicarage Road, Low Leyton, West Ham, London.

His father Charles Henry is aged 45, is a commercial traveller (leather goods). His wife Sarah Alice is aged 38 with no occupation listed. At the time of the Census they have five children, Charles aged 17 is a drapery apprentice, Emily aged 14, Gwendoline aged 12, Daisy aged 8 and George Raymond aged 7.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 140 Hollingbury Park Avenue, Brighton.

His father Charles Henry is aged 55, born in Wandsworth, London in 1856 is a commercial traveller (leather goods). His wife Sarah Alice is aged 48, born 1863 in Shoreditch, London. They have been married for twenty nine years and have had six children. Of those, listed on the Census are Daisy aged 18, born 1893 who is a draper’s assistant and George Raymond aged 17, born 1894 and who is also a draper’s assistant. There is also a servant listed; Florence Agnes Elsie Edwards aged 17, born 1894 in Merton, Surrey. is a clerk a scholar and their niece Louisa Lyon is living at the address and is aged 21, born 1890 and she is employed as a glove cleaner.

George Raymond enlisted in Putney, Surrey and was formerly Private 2398 in the City of London Yeomanry. Following a transfer he was serving in the 18th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 300029 when he died of wounds on the 4th October, 1917 aged 30. Soldiers Effects states that George died at 53 CCS.

His death recorded in the West Sussex Gazette 8th November 1917

He now rests at  Bailleul CC Ext, France.

Bailleul was occupied on 14 October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for considerable periods. It was a Corps headquarters until July 1917, when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of Bailleul (13-15 April 1918), it fell into German hands and was not retaken until 30 August 1918.

The earliest Commonwealth burials at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension was opened on the east side of the cemetery. The extension was used until April 1918, and again in September, and after the Armistice graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields.

BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION contains 4,403 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 11 of the graves made in April 1918 were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials. There are also 17 British burials of the Second World War (all 1940) and 154 German burials from both wars (10 of which are Second World War).

During the Second World War the cemetery suffered major bomb damage that necessitated the replacement of nearly 200 headstones after the war.

Both the Commonwealth plot in the communal cemetery and the extension were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

Soldiers Effects to his mother Sarah Alice, there is no Pension record.

Both parents died in September 1924, Sarah Alice reported in Mid Sussex Times on 09th September 1924

CRADDOCK - September 7th, Sarah Alice, wife of the late Charles Henry Craddock, 24 Regency Square, Brighton, aged 62 years.

His father Charles Henry was aged 69 when he died.

We currently have no further information on George Raymond Craddock, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.

Both parents died in September 1924, Sarah Alice reported in Mid Sussex Times 9th Sept 1924

CRADDOCK - September 7th, Sarah Alice, wife of the late Charles Henry Craddock, 24 Regency Square, Brighton, aged 62 years.

and Charles Henry was aged 69 when he died.