Crichton, James Hiram (3091)
Place of Birth: Port Melbourne, VIC
Age: 19 years 2 months
Enlistment Details: Wednesday, 7 July 1915 – Melbourne, VIC
Service Number: 3091 view online service record
Address:
324 Bay Street
Port Melbourne, VIC
Next of Kin:
James Peter Crichton (father)
324 Bay Street
Port Melbourne, VIC
Embarkation Details:
Date: Wednesday, 29 September 1915
Ship: RMS Osterley
Port: Melbourne, VIC
Unit: 5th Infantry Battalion – 10th Reinforcements
Fate:
RTA: Tuesday, 8 April 1919
Discharged: Tuesday, 15 July 1919
James was the son of Port Melbourne Councillor, James Peter Crichton. He was a military electrician at the forts at the Heads prior to enlisting.
1915 ‘ELECTRIC SPARKS.’, Port Melbourne Standard (Vic. : 1914 – 1920), 24 July, p. 3, viewed 1 July, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91166310
1915 ‘INTERCESSORY SERVICES.’, Port Melbourne Standard (Vic. : 1914 – 1920), 6 November, p. 3, viewed 12 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91168162
1916 ‘PORT MELBOURNE SOLDIERS IN FRANCE.’, Port Melbourne Standard (Vic. : 1914 – 1920), 3 June, p. 3. , viewed 02 May 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91166083
1916 ‘Note from Sergeant Crichton.’, Port Melbourne Standard (Vic. : 1914 – 1920), 1 July, p. 2. , viewed 31 May 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91166030
1916 ‘FOE FAMILIAR WITH AUSTRALIAN VERNACULAR.’, Port Melbourne Standard (Vic. : 1914 – 1920), 12 August, p. 1. , viewed 28 Jul 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91167413
1 Comments
Brian Membrey
CRICHTON, Alexander
Lance Corporal, 13th Infantry, died by drowning 1 February, 1917, England, aged 31, commemorated Wareham Cemetery, Wareham, Dorset, England, United Kingdom
1661 (Parents : George McHardy and Mrs Elizabeth Ann CRICHTON, brother Joseph Peter CRICHTON, wife Mrs Marie Ethel CRICHTON, born Footscray, educated? His death was noted in the Port Melbourne Standard as the brother of the local Councillor J P CRICHTON (Joseph Rowe CRICHTON in Birth registrations) but also noted “when a boy, he lived in South Melbourne”; directories around the turn of the century show the family at 131 Bank-street East, South Melbourne. He originally enlisted in September, 1914 from Brisbane. as a 29-year-old journalist but was discharged under A.I.F. regulation 9 11/14, the purport of which remain unknown, but it was noted he had been absent without leave for three days. He re-enlisted in Sydney in December, 1914 (although this time as a clerk), his wife in Brisbane, although later in northern Queensland and in Thornbury in Melbourne. After being wounded a second time, Crichton was invalided back to England on 16 September, 1916 and subsequently found drowned in Poole Harbour on 1 February, 1917 (this was declared the date of death, but it appears the body may have been in the water for some days). Despite extensive documentation on an earlier Court Martial for being Absent Without Leave which brought him 56 days Field Punishment, there is nothing recorded of the circumstances of Crichton’s death other than a vague inference that he had been reported absent on 22 November of the previous year The local reports of his death suggested Crichton as a youth, was employed by Messrs. Mason, Firth and McCutcheon, printers, Melbourne, before moving to Queensland, and joining the staff of the Brisbane “Daily Mail” as a journalist. No circular was returned; details completed by AWM staff offer no additional information, but a letter from his widow requesting a Death Certificate added a second given name of Henry, confirmed by Victorian registrations. A Death Certificate was also issued to Crichton’s brother, his address simply shown as Bay Street, Port Melbourne, although earlier directories suggest he conducted a plumbing and hardware business at 324 and 326